In this first color challenge, I propose to build up a collection of colors and play with it.
Why build up a color collection? Isn’t it enough to buy a color chart such as Pantone, RAL or consult any paint manufacturer’s website, or more simply, to display your gouaches on the table?
There are three good reasons for setting it up yourself. The first is that when building up your own collection, you have to situate one color among others and thus refine your perception. If one color is too similar to another, there is no point in keeping it.
The second is that such a tool is very practical. Take a look at these two portraits: the portrait of the designer Anne Élisabeth and the portrait of the artist Françoise Lesage (an English version is coming soon); see how they both use their collection of colorful samples, whether they are made of pieces of cloth or of ceramics.
The third reason is that the result is beautiful and the process is fun. This is the best reason.
Constraint
To add a zest of creativity, here’s a constraint: make your color chart from samples found in nature. I did the exercise in autumn with leaves. Spring can be interesting too, with new yellow green appearing everyday. But nothing prevents you from choosing sand, earth, pebbles…
The range will be limited? Never mind, the shades will only be richer and more numerous.
The collection can be ephemeral or permanent, the main thing is to build it up.
In the Design Museum Gent, during the Kleureyck exhibition, I saw several such collections of colors and some works of artists inspired by a similar concept. For example below, see the various earth colors found by AtelierNL in a specific area.
And a collection of photos of leaves? Why not, but the photo never reproduces the nuances exactly. Indeed, observe the differences between what you see and what the screen is telling you. Writing down about these differences will help you in developing your perception. Often the colors are more saturated in the photo than in reality. If you have photo processing software, you will be able to retrieve nuances, but only to a certain extent. On the other hand, the photo allows you to capture transparencies, scale effects, color ratios, all this is very interesting to develop your sense of color and harmony but is not the subject of this challenge.
Get inspired
In his project TOTOMOXTLE, Fernando Laposse explores the colors of various husks of endangers heirloom corn from Mexico and creates a line of furniture out of his colored compositions.
By assembling shades of color to create ephemeral works installed in nature, the Land Artist Andy Goldsworthy inspires me in particular, and more especially by his series Leaves, which plays on gradations or on the presence of several colors in similar leaves.
So, shall we proceed with the next steps of the GORC method? Remember: Get inspired, Observe, Reproduce, and Create.
Observe
Dead leaves have always seemed poetic to me. One of the first photographs I sold was a still life with three remarkable leaves: small yellow, orange and brown spots finely drawn on a dark red background made them moving and very graphic.
Since then, I’ve been taking pictures of leaves all the time. I always discover new shapes, lines, drawings, colors, or associations. I am particularly fond of dead leaves on water.
In your research, do not hesitate to look at both sides of the leaf, it sometimes offers equally interesting and very different shades on the side that is not exposed to direct sunlight.
When I first saw these white-backed leaves, I first thought that someone had thrown white paint into the park. But no, they were white leaves! And so soft on this white side, like baby skin!
Since I set myself this challenge, I have made other color discoveries: purple fruits, pink or bright green stems, … and all this, in the city, near my home. If in your quest you are seduced by beautiful associations, by the graphic work made by climbing plants, or by the frost that redraws the shapes, do not forget these experiences even if it is not the object of the current challenge. Keep them in mind while writing your observations, drawing, or photographing.
It’s fun to watch the mix of dead leaves, or leaves still on the trees just above a carpet of recently fallen leaves. Avoid stripping the trees in public gardens; however, in your garden you are the only master on board.
Building up your collection
Collecting
For several weeks, I have been harvesting beautiful leaves on my walks; I didn’t limit myself to uniform leaves, or even leaves that are undamaged.
Of course, to build a permanent collection, the leaves must be dried. The intensity of the colors will fade, but you can use the dried leaves. The best way to dry them is to first wring them out with absorbent paper or tissues, then place them in telephone books or between sheets of newspaper, with a good ton of books to keep pressure on them. Alternatively, use blotting paper but do not use paper towel which might leave their embossed patterns on the leaves.
If you do the exercise today, you can ignore the drying session by accepting the ephemeral side of your achievement. But in any case, wipe the leaves and then, press them in newspaper for at least a few hours. Use the leaves today, because tomorrow they will be curled up.
Classify the colors
Many leaves are not uniform. In this exercise, the aim is not to create a perfect color chart but rather to be charmed by gradations, by color annotations decided by light, by the constitution of the plant, or even by the effect of diseases. Non-uniformity complicates the task. For the moment, put aside the leaves that you find interesting for their shape, their mix of colors, their interesting graphics. They will be used for a next challenge.
Make stacks with similar colors, as shown in the introductory photo.
Create samples
At this stage, you can choose to keep the leaves as they are, as raw material, or you can break them down and recompose them yourself in a personal creation.
In my opinion, one of the strengths of Goldsworthy’s work is that he concentrates solely on the colors of the material and totally abstracts himself from the shape of the leaves, often creating a new, very simple one that exploits the individual graphic design of each one.
The shape can be partially abstracted by cutting the leaves into strips, squares, rectangles, for example, or by redrawing their contours, deleting certain parts or creating associations that erase the contours. You may use a printer-scanner-copier with the cover down to save your composition.
Other creations
You can glue the sheets to cardboard or simply attach them together with sticky paper or even sew them. The poetical sculpture below is made by sewing the leaves above after the removal of some parts thus re-inventing its shape.
Go ahead!
Start your collection today! In the process, enjoy the various shades, observe the subtle variations of tints and tones. Let you be surprised by the color associations you meet and the graphical shapes nature provides.