Memoirs of a Sewer

Posted by Agnes Iley , Thursday, December 23, 2010 9:27 AM

What have you achieved?

Did you enjoy working with colour and were you able to mix and match colours accurately?

I did enjoy working with colours and I think I came close to matching the colours.

I achieved an almost perfect match while the paints were still wet, but of course they dry a little duller.

 

Were you able to use colour expressively?

I had to give this some thought. Seeing as a lot of my work is done from reality (pictures).

I never had to give colour as a separate component that much thought.  I found it really interesting to use colour as a starting point instead of an afterthought.

In the end I think I succeeded in what I set out to do in the French knot picture and was able to use colour expressively there.

 

Did the exercises help you to really see colour instead of accepting what you thought you saw?

Yes, the exercises definitely helped me to see the real colours, instead of what my brain assumes is the colour.

 

Did you prefer working with watercolours or gouache paints? What was the difference?

For the exercises where I needed to match colours I preferred the gouaches. It gave me much more control over the end result. I found it easier to mix matching colours with the gouaches and because the colours are opaque I didn’t have to worry about the influence of the background on the final colour.

 

How successful were the colour exercises in stage 5? Where they more or less interesting than the painting exercises?

Hmmm…to be totally honest…I still feel much more comfortable with a needle, thread and fabric. So I really enjoyed the stitching exercises in stage 5 and 6. But the question is more or less interesting and then I do have to say that I’ve learned the most and discovered some things I really didn’t know whilst doing the painting exercises.

 

If you enjoyed them more, were there any factors that made them more exciting?

I think for me the excitement came from working with a limited, predetermined colour range.

That was a design challenge!