Following the folk art cat I posted a couple of weeks ago, here’s a second cat in the same style. My first thought was to make the cat black, so the bright colours would really stand out in contrast.
The black cat – not as bright as it might have been
But I didn’t appreciate how much black absorbs other colours, and instead of making them brighter by contrast, it seems to make them duller. So this colour scheme isn’t as colourful as it’s supposed to be
So I tried making the cat yellow, with the idea that a bright background would brighten other colours.
The yellow cat – maybe a bit wishy-washy?
Well, yes, the colours do look brighter but somehow it’s lost some impact somewhere. As I’m learning, it’s surprisingly difficult to work with a lot of bright colours at once. They should clash a bit, but not too much. They should contrast, but not too much. And it can be difficult to make the subject coherent when you’re working with a big palette of wildly different colours
This is going to be a case of back to the drawing board. And in case you were wondering, yes, I've already fixed the outline of the cat so that now it covers the raw edges of the applique fabric more cleanly. I had thought a thin, feathered outline would look loose and relaxed and 'folky', but it just looks messy and unfinished, so it had to go
So wonderful to see your thought process of selecting fabric and thread in this project.
Isn’t it fascinating how colors affect each other perceptually? Color, of course, is a whole study in itself. I’ve played with it in my weavings and am continually fascinated by it.
I like the yellow cat! Perhaps it’s the colours of the applique rectangles that are detracting from the vibrant colours in the cat though?
I like the black one. Did the camera make the black look like charcoal, or would it be possible to find a deeper black, almost a velvet?
Very interesting study in the different contrasts. I think it effectively demonstrates how changing a single thing can change the whole mood of a piece.
Well done!
Love your designs. I am taking a felting class and going through the colors like you are with thread. Color has always been my fear, I keep trying to learn but always seem to go back to intuition.
Keep up the good work.