The article on the mystery of Maya blue led me to the movie Apocalypto. I was hoping to find images of sacrificial victims painted blue. I did find some photos but was surprised to see that the faces were not painted. Given Mel Gibsons reputation for historical accuracy, I am guessing there is a Mayan painting somewhere that shows how the slaves were […]
Smashing Color
with Maggie Maggio
Page 12 of 15
Last week the New York Times reported that the science world was a buzz with the publication of an article in Antiquities magazine solving the mystery of Maya Blue. The color, often described as matching the Caribbean sky, is a brilliant turquoise blue. It is shown here on a wall from the murals at Bonampak. Most […]
My mother’s favorite color is blue. She collects blue glass bottles and displays them in the windows of our house in Ohio. She prefers cobalt blue but all varieties of blue make it onto the shelves. Over the years many of the bottles were accidently broken – one time a whole window’s worth came tumbling down! […]
White is light. All color comes from light. The Flickr collection of white photos has many, many beautiful images showing all the variations of shadow and light that give depth to white. Many of the photos are by photographer Mr. Luke Harby. White Polymer: Dan Cormier’s necklace is a gorgeous example of working in all […]
Joey and I spent some time tonight posting the third video, Smashing Color Triangles. Then I remembered I need to give you the links for the handouts. Here they are: Color Scales Handout Instinctive Mixing Handout Color Scales Triangle Worksheet The video ends with a suggestion to use the triangle to practice mixing colors instinctively […]
Over the years I’ve tried many different ways to mix the colors in the middle of a three primary triangle. Nothing seemed to work until I came up with what I call “Base Mixing.” Base Mixing is a two part process that starts with mixing a series of purple colors along the bottom of the […]
The Majolica style of painted ceramics was introduced to Italy in the 14th century from Moorish Spain by way of the island of Majorca. Think spanish tiles and you will probably have some idea of what inspired the Italian majolica artists. In the middle of the fifteenth century, Luca della Robbia (1400-1482) developed the blue […]
Laurie Mika’s mixed media pieces are full of color, texture and imagery. Polymer and ceramic tiles, paint, beads, jewelry and more combine to make beautiful mosaic icons, tables, chairs and boxes. I am amazed at how many pieces she gets done and that her confident use of color shows up in every piece. In one […]
Since summer ends this weekend, let’s look at some of the color forecasts for the Fall. Even though I don’t believe that color forecasts are always accurate, it is fun to look at them and find colors that you might like to try in your work. This Fall’s Pantone Colors are a mixture of deep earths, soft earth […]
Dr. Shinobu Ishihara developed the most widely used tests for color blindness while he was a military physician in the Japanese Army in the early 1900’s. He hand painted the first charts himself using watercolors and Japanese characters instead of numbers. Today the plates are printed to exacting standards and used all over the world as […]
This chart shows ten colors selected because they can be differentiated by people with normal, protan and duetan vision. When would you want to use these colors? Probably not in jewelry design or quilting or painting but can you imagine how difficult it might be to use a map if you were color blind? […]
On the left is a color pyramid the way I see it. On the right is the same triangle the way my next door neighbor Steve sees it. Steve is red/green color blind. When I asked him what it is like to be color blind he said, “See that bush with flowers. They are pink, […]
Lindly Haunani and I often tell the story of how we met. It was at the National Polymer Clay Guild retreat in the spring of ’95. I brought copies of a color mixing chart for Fimo that I was selling as a fundraiser for my daughter’s 6th grade class. The kids made all the mixes as part of a lesson […]
Lindly Haunani has joined the blogging world with a new site called “Lindly – Talking Color.” She will be sharing her top 100 tips in addition to musing about the creative process and showing some of her latest pieces. Lindly and I have taught color workshops together a number of times, starting way back at the first […]
The Name That Color site reminded me of a game I sometimes use in workshops to jumpstart a discussion about naming colors. Its looks like a quiz so it might trigger some test anxiety. Don’t fret. I included an answer key. Try to fill in the blanks before looking at the answers. Its not too hard once you get started. Since […]
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