Four Ladies of Color

I tried this exercise with faces; I started by making a pattern so that each face would have the same shapes in it, but i couldn't do that easily with the features, so they were all cut freehand, but I made an effort to get them fairly similar in size and shape.  Also, I decided to use the same basic skin color for all four because i thought it would allow the color combinations to be more effective.  I don't know whether that's true, though.

I began with the complementary colors, blue-green and red-orange.  All the fabrics are ordinary cottons, except for the aqua scarf, which is transluscent silk.   Her mouth is clearly differently shaped than the other three and is also placed a little higher in her face, which gives her a different expression than the others, unfortunately.  She looks kind of pouty while the others look more melancholy.  The hat jewel and the scarf jewel are copper metallic thread.

Note that you can click on the picture to get a bigger version if you want one.

Second was a single color and its variations.  Lots of red and pink in my stash, but precious little red with black..ie, the darker shades of red.  Also, I discovered I had trouble telling dark red from a darkish brown.  In general, I'm not sure at all that I understand how to think about brown as a color.  Again, all cottons except for the silk scarf.  Also, the earrings and the hat jewel here are red foil, and the scarf jewel is pink angelina.

Third was the analogous color scheme: blue, blue violet, and violet.  Mostly  what I discovered is that I can't tell the difference between red violet and blue violet and just plain violet.  All three jewels in this one are that holoshimmer metallic thread.  And the scarf is also silk, with everything else being cotton.

 The effect of the blue hair in this one is I think a function of color: she looks much vaguer, more ghostly, or something.

Finally, was the tertiary scheme (which may not be the right name)..yellow-green, red-orange, and violet.  The scarf is silk, and the jewels are lightly sewn with metallic thread.  The yellow-green eyes were a real challenge...but if you've got them, i think purple eye-shadow is the answer.  This one is so much more lively that I would think I may have learned something, but the print in the hair and the blouse is also much wilder than in any of the other three, so it may just be that.


It may have made more sense to have used only plain colors to get the full effect of this, but I don't have that big an array of plain colors.  Finally, I don't know at all what to conclude from this exercise, although I liked doing it and I like the results.  Mostly, I think it would be a lot easier to use wilder colors in people than I usually do...

(Another construction detail: I did use chromacoal (which is like colored charcoal) to give the faces some shadowing/color, although all the features are appliqued cotton, not painted on.) judy