I've been thinking a lot about colour in the last week or so as I was immersed in these beautiful sandstones tones at Aireys Inlet. I could just look at the blues of the ocean and sky and these gorgeous sandstone cliffs forever. There's also something about the autumn light which begins to put a more gentle feel to things in Australia at this time of year.
Anyway, as I was saying, colour.....I've been thinking about the colours I'm drawn to using in my work and even the ones I wear. And also how colours are made. It came up again over the weekend when I went to a briefing for the Arnhem Land Weavers trip I'm doing later in winter. We saw some amazing photos of the women weavers cooking up colour from the earth to dye their pandanas leaves before weaving them into glorious baskets. All those swirling earthy colours in the pots looked so rich and almost edible. Yum!
I find mixing colours to print (woodblock print, lino block print or screen print) really very challenging. I know I love a dirty colour (picture dirty red, dirty green, dirty blue); to me a good measure of black in there just seems to help ground the colour. I'm on the hunt for some good colour recipes so if you know of any or where to find some please feel free to share. I'd also love to hear what colours you're drawn to. Fluros anyone?
I would never have thought that the first photo was taken at Airey's Inlet. It looks like it is taken in an desert!
ReplyDeleteThe light is beautiful now, I agree. Autumn in Melbourne is my favourite time of the year. The crisp mornings, the leaves, the scents. It's heavenly.
That course looks amazing! I can't wait to hear about it and see what you make.
I am terrible at mixing colours. I never end up with what I had in mind going into the process. I like a dirty colour too. My absolute favourite colour is robin's egg blue. I don't know what it is, but I am so drawn to it. Not that it helps you to find new colours - you are already all over that colour! I love a bit of mustard too (another dirty colour!). I actually like the idea of fluoro but I just can't go there.
I love mustard as a colour too.Plus what I call 'macha green'or Japanese tea green.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Arnhem Land Weavers trip should be really amazing!!!
So jealous that you're doing the Arhem Land Weavers' trip. It's something I am going to do and I'd love, love, love to hear all about it from you. I am doing a basketweaving course in July - a week-long residential. In fact, I just mentioned it in my last blog post. It will be my third basketweaving course. I keep trying to learn new techniques and use new materials. This one will give me some clues about harvesting and curing the native sedge that grows near me.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I wanted to ask, which template do you use for your blog, or did you set this wider template up yourself? Clues, I'd like to get a wider format to post larger pictures.
ReplyDeleteKate - will be sure to keep you posted about the Arnhem Land Weavers trip :) Good luck with your week long residential.
ReplyDeleteAbout the blog template - I customised mine a few months ago to make it wider. See this link for more info: http://www.squidoo.com/customize_blogger
Also, if you put your pics into flickr first and then copy and paste the html code and put it into your blog post it will make the pics wider. Hope that helps.