Dark Shades—Colors that Strengthen A Design’s Visual Impact (Joen Wolfrom’s Playing with Color Series)Joen Wolfrom | February 16, 2012
When selecting colors for your designs (quilts, fiberart, paintings, interior designs, etc.), consider using a few deep, dark shades in your mixture. You won’t be disappointed. These colors give great return for your effort. In fact, they can be the key to making a stunning design. In essence, dark shades can add a visual punch that greatly enhances a design. Today’s post explains how splashes of dark shades can enhance designs.
If you have missed the recent posts discussing shades, consider reading at least the first post that discusses what shades are and how they can be difficult to find in certain mediums. It might be advantageous for you to read the subsequent posts about shades too.
Clarifying the Difference Between A Shade and a Dark Tone
Shades are colors that are made by adding black to a pure color. Some shades are slightly darker than the pure color. Today I’m focusing on shades that have had enough black added to them that they are dark or deeply colored. Because these dark hues are a combination of only one pure color and black, they are quite rich and very clear.
As discussed in an earlier post, shades in fabric are rare. Most dark-colored fabrics are dark tones rather than shades. Tones have a graying quality to them; some are slightly grayed while others have so much grayness to them that they are lackluster.
Pat Holly’s traditional quilt Circle ‘Round the Stars gives us an excellent opportunity to see examples of both shades and tones.