Art 107: Portfolio 2

Adventures in color theory continue...  The three principles we explored in this portfolio:  Complementary Contrast, Simultaneous Contrast, Contrast of Saturation.

Complementary Contrast
Complementary colors are those that are opposite each other on the color wheel.  I usually tend to think of complements just as pure colors.  For the preliminary I chose to play with different values of pure colors, and how values effect the complements (ex.  if red and green are complements, and the red is lightened then the green is darkened).  After 6 pairs of complements are identified, 3 pairs are chosen to do modulations between the pairs. The mixture of 2 complementary colors should be neutral gray.

The composition for this principle should first be perceived as a black and white grayscale image.  Then our composition replaces the grayscale colors with one of the complementary modulations.

Simultaneous Contrast
This principle illustrates how one color can be perceived differently depending on which color is surrounding it.  The pale blue looks like a different color next to the red compared to the same color next to the bright green.

The composition is a bit different, a very abstract cloud scene by O'Keefe.  The concept of simultaneous contrast is illustrated in some areas.

Contrast of Saturation
With this color principle we were to choose one color and create modulations of that color by adding white (creating tints), black (creating shades), gray (creating tones), adding the complement and adding a combination of the primary colors.  The preliminary illustrates all the colors that can be derived from one hue.

I really liked the gray modulation and primarily used it in my composition.  I really liked the original O'Keefe composition and I don't think my interpretation does it justice at all... but it works with this theory.