Notifications
INFORMATION is meant to be given, NOTES are meant to be taken, and over the years, I have accumulated files full, thanks to the generosity of many seasoned Enamel Artists who have taught workshops.
I owe these notes to my mentor, Linda Darty.
COLOR is a product of light. As the light changes, the color changes. Think about the color of your grass outside in the morning as the sun rises, at noon when it is so very bright and then in the evening as the sun fades. The grass is green, but if your were trying to paint that color with paint or an enamel, you would either be choosing or mixing different greens, or you might be layering yellows or blues over the green you choose, to darken or lighten it.
Related to this same idea is the fact that colors also change according to their surroundings. Even in the same light a color will appear different depending on the colors that are adjacent to it. Some colors are more susceptible to this change than others. Cool colors will recede in a composition and warm colors will seem to advance, giving the piece depth and volume.
HUE - simply refers to the name of the color. Red, is a hue, yellow is a hue, orange is a hue etc.
VALUE- refers to the lightness or darkness of a color.
INTENSITY - refers to the brightness of a color. Because a color is at full intensity only when pure and unmixed, there is a relationship between intensity and value.
WARM COLORS- colors related to the sensation of warmth (like fire) yellows, reds, oranges.
COOL COLORS- colors related to the sensation of cold (water, sky, grass) blues, greens, purples and lavenders red, yellow and blue.
PRIMARY COLORS - colors that are pure and exist without being mixed - red, yellow and blue
SECONDARY COLORS - colors that are mixed using the primary colors (red and blue make purple, blue and yellow make green red and yellow make orange)
COMPLIMENTARY COLORS - colors that are opposite from each other on the color wheel.
You should hold your work away from you and think about how your use of color makes your eye move around the composition, creating balance, harmony, or an emphasis in one area. Your piece may need a focal point, or a "zinger" that creates interest and gives it life. If the piece is primarily lavenders and purples, you might want a touch of gold somewhere to give it a little sparkle (the complement of purple is yellow). Experiment with this using complements, adding a little orange spot in the piece that might have a lot of blue in it or a little red, in a green piece that needs to be jazzed up a bit. A word of caution however, is to think carefully about not using every single color you have in your palette, in every piece you make! It is easy to be seduced by all the beautiful colors of the glass, but by limiting your palette you establish an overall "feeling" in the composition, your piece will have more impact. Its really easy to end up with a piece that looks like you've gone into a candy store and spilled the container of jelly beans! Simply using related values, and subtle color changes, might be all the piece needs to get your point across.
The mixing of hues and values in enamel allows us to create new colors. It is possible to actually physically mix up different enamels (shaking them in a container, or mixing them in a pan) with similar expansion and contraction properties, and apply them as if they are one color. If using opaque colors this might result in a "speckled" look because you will likely see grains in the mix(especially if they are contrasting colors, i.e., mixing darks and lights). You would need to carefully test this mixture to know what colors you can create. I find I have more control if I mix colors with my paintbrush on the actual enameled piece.
Visual mixing of colors rather than physically mixing the colors is another way of working with different hues, values and intensities. In the Nineteenth Century the pointillists used this technique by applying small dots or "points" of color next to each other, to produce different color sensations. The trees in a painting may have looked green, but were actually made of many different hues to make that green come to life. There might be yellow, browns, blues, turquoises, even lavenders and pinks in the color that we instinctively see as green.
When you are planning your enamel piece and deciding which colors to use, it is helpful to use colored pencils, water colors, markers, or any paint on paper, to work out your design and help you make color decisions. I like to draw my piece several times, using tracing paper. That way I can try lots of different combinations using colored pencil, before I begin making my tests with enamel. Some projects are so spontaneous that this planning may not be necessary, but in others that require a great deal of metal work prior to the enameling step, the planning may keep you from ruining many hours of work.
After working on paper, you can also make color tests on metal that are specific to the pieces you are working on. If you have made color samples already, it may be enough for you to simply ho ld them together and see the color combination in that way. If you are going to be wet inlaying, shading or sifting the colors so that they blend or overlap, you might wish to make quick tests on scrap metal to be sure the blend is to your liking.
If you feel insecure about working with color, look at your surroundings, the clothes you wear, the fabrics you choose, the way you choose rugs or home furnishings, curtains or wall paint. Pick up a book on quilts and look at how the textile artists choose the fabrics that they put next to each other, and be sensitive to the ones that you like the best, asking yourself "Why"? Look at nature and study the subtleties of the browns and greens in leaves, looking hard enough to see the yellows, the pinks and the reds as well. Look at the way the rocks relate to each other in a river, or the way the flowers burst into a blaze of color in a carpet of mossy green grass. Plan the colors in your enamel piece in such a way that your eye moves in the direction that you want it to, stopping just where you want it to. Hold the work away from you and simply see how the color moves you.
How Transparent Enamel Colors React on Different Base Metals:
Understanding color in general is helpful, but there are also some important things to know about using enamel colors specific to the metals that you are working on.
OPAQUE colors are very simple to use and if fired correctly, should look almost the same, no matter what the base metal is.
TRANSPARENT colors react differently to the base metal they are applied over and because you can see through them, and see that base metal, you need to understand what these difference are.
INFORMATION is meant to be given, NOTES are meant to be taken, and over the years, I have accumulated files full, thanks to the generosity of many seasoned Enamel Artists who have taught workshops.
I owe these notes to my mentor, Linda Darty.
COLOR is a product of light. As the light changes, the color changes. Think about the color of your grass outside in the morning as the sun rises, at noon when it is so very bright and then in the evening as the sun fades. The grass is green, but if your were trying to paint that color with paint or an enamel, you would either be choosing or mixing different greens, or you might be layering yellows or blues over the green you choose, to darken or lighten it.
Related to this same idea is the fact that colors also change according to their surroundings. Even in the same light a color will appear different depending on the colors that are adjacent to it. Some colors are more susceptible to this change than others. Cool colors will recede in a composition and warm colors will seem to advance, giving the piece depth and volume.
HUE - simply refers to the name of the color. Red, is a hue, yellow is a hue, orange is a hue etc.
VALUE- refers to the lightness or darkness of a color.
INTENSITY - refers to the brightness of a color. Because a color is at full intensity only when pure and unmixed, there is a relationship between intensity and value.
WARM COLORS- colors related to the sensation of warmth (like fire) yellows, reds, oranges.
COOL COLORS- colors related to the sensation of cold (water, sky, grass) blues, greens, purples and lavenders red, yellow and blue.
PRIMARY COLORS - colors that are pure and exist without being mixed - red, yellow and blue
SECONDARY COLORS - colors that are mixed using the primary colors (red and blue make purple, blue and yellow make green red and yellow make orange)
COMPLIMENTARY COLORS - colors that are opposite from each other on the color wheel.
You should hold your work away from you and think about how your use of color makes your eye move around the composition, creating balance, harmony, or an emphasis in one area. Your piece may need a focal point, or a "zinger" that creates interest and gives it life. If the piece is primarily lavenders and purples, you might want a touch of gold somewhere to give it a little sparkle (the complement of purple is yellow). Experiment with this using complements, adding a little orange spot in the piece that might have a lot of blue in it or a little red, in a green piece that needs to be jazzed up a bit. A word of caution however, is to think carefully about not using every single color you have in your palette, in every piece you make! It is easy to be seduced by all the beautiful colors of the glass, but by limiting your palette you establish an overall "feeling" in the composition, your piece will have more impact. Its really easy to end up with a piece that looks like you've gone into a candy store and spilled the container of jelly beans! Simply using related values, and subtle color changes, might be all the piece needs to get your point across.
The mixing of hues and values in enamel allows us to create new colors. It is possible to actually physically mix up different enamels (shaking them in a container, or mixing them in a pan) with similar expansion and contraction properties, and apply them as if they are one color. If using opaque colors this might result in a "speckled" look because you will likely see grains in the mix(especially if they are contrasting colors, i.e., mixing darks and lights). You would need to carefully test this mixture to know what colors you can create. I find I have more control if I mix colors with my paintbrush on the actual enameled piece.
Visual mixing of colors rather than physically mixing the colors is another way of working with different hues, values and intensities. In the Nineteenth Century the pointillists used this technique by applying small dots or "points" of color next to each other, to produce different color sensations. The trees in a painting may have looked green, but were actually made of many different hues to make that green come to life. There might be yellow, browns, blues, turquoises, even lavenders and pinks in the color that we instinctively see as green.
When you are planning your enamel piece and deciding which colors to use, it is helpful to use colored pencils, water colors, markers, or any paint on paper, to work out your design and help you make color decisions. I like to draw my piece several times, using tracing paper. That way I can try lots of different combinations using colored pencil, before I begin making my tests with enamel. Some projects are so spontaneous that this planning may not be necessary, but in others that require a great deal of metal work prior to the enameling step, the planning may keep you from ruining many hours of work.
After working on paper, you can also make color tests on metal that are specific to the pieces you are working on. If you have made color samples already, it may be enough for you to simply ho ld them together and see the color combination in that way. If you are going to be wet inlaying, shading or sifting the colors so that they blend or overlap, you might wish to make quick tests on scrap metal to be sure the blend is to your liking.
If you feel insecure about working with color, look at your surroundings, the clothes you wear, the fabrics you choose, the way you choose rugs or home furnishings, curtains or wall paint. Pick up a book on quilts and look at how the textile artists choose the fabrics that they put next to each other, and be sensitive to the ones that you like the best, asking yourself "Why"? Look at nature and study the subtleties of the browns and greens in leaves, looking hard enough to see the yellows, the pinks and the reds as well. Look at the way the rocks relate to each other in a river, or the way the flowers burst into a blaze of color in a carpet of mossy green grass. Plan the colors in your enamel piece in such a way that your eye moves in the direction that you want it to, stopping just where you want it to. Hold the work away from you and simply see how the color moves you.
How Transparent Enamel Colors React on Different Base Metals:
Understanding color in general is helpful, but there are also some important things to know about using enamel colors specific to the metals that you are working on.
OPAQUE colors are very simple to use and if fired correctly, should look almost the same, no matter what the base metal is.
TRANSPARENT colors react differently to the base metal they are applied over and because you can see through them, and see that base metal, you need to understand what these difference are.