Simultaneous Contrast

"Simultaneous Contrast" is quite a phrase and quite a concept. I'm in a study group on this topic and I am in awe of how many ways there are to address the issues that it presents.
A fella by the name of Chevreul was the first to present his "law" of simultaneous contrast (among other things). Basically, this means that if two colors are next to each other (and are roughly the same size in area), each will shift as they are are affected by the (near) complement of the other.
So - if you look at red and green, the red looks more red and the green looks more green - since red and green are complementary colors!
It's easy to see if the colors are complmenetary colors to begin with - since they jsut intensify each other.
That's why red&green, orange&blue, yellow&violet are so eye-popping - all because of simultaneous contrast!
If you have colors that are not complementary, it gets a little more complicated.
Keep in mind that one color is affected by the neighbor of the other color's complement - thus the yellow surrounded by red will tend to shift towards a yellow-greenish tinge (green is red's complement and yellow green is nearer to or the neighbor of green when you look towards yellow. If you isolate that little yellow petal, the yellow looks like yellow - if you see it with the others around it - it shifts a tiny bit towards greenish. the red isn't affected since the yellow is so small.

If you don't see that, how about the purple and green succulents - the green should look more yellow-green and the purple should look more red-purple since they are so plentiful and close in proximity.
Again, if you look at one color with the other blocked off and then compare the entire image, the colors do shift a bit.
This is your brain on Simultaneous Contrast!

How about this yellow with orange? The yellow should shift towards blue-green and the orange towards red-purple.


I'm having such fun with this and how it expresses itself in fiber. I'll have some photos of those project soon - they're not yet finsihed enough to make sense in a photo!

More poppies

With regard to the poppies mentioned in my previous blog, here are more photos of what the series looks like - I made a number of different scarves from one very long warp. The scarf photo in my last blog was a bit washed out and the green is squirrelly thus here are more accurate images!



This first scarf (left) has a sewing thread weft. It's really lightweight and drapes and crunches up really well.
(Click on the photos and a larger image will load in.)









This next scarf (below) has a cashmere-merino weft. It's a still lightweight but it's a bit stiffer than the others - but it is a bit warmer when wrapped around your neck!
















This last image shows the scarf with a weft from one of the cotton yarns in the warp. It's a lightweight scarf that drapes pretty nicely. though not as nicely as the one with the sewing thread weft...
















The orange hues mixed with some green (for leaves) and brownish oranges (for the ground and shaded flowers) really reflect what I love in the poppy fields when they are at their best.

The Colors of Life

Hi! Welcome to my blog!

I'm continually intrigued by colors in nature. I use fiber techniques to weave the patterns and textures - and colors - that I see in nature.
The image in my blog title is one I took in Hawaii of lava - as it cools, it attains the different colors and they're in 'rainbow' order. That piece of lava is actually about 4 inches wide - it's tiny!
Below is the Inkle band I wove in response to the colors in the lava:


The lava ia amazing and I had to keep going - here's an Inkle Rope that I wove in response to this other type of lava:

The rope-y strands in the texture of the lava led me to do this project.

Here's what that piece of lava looked like:


Madame Pele and Mother Nature are amazing!