What is the Color of Joy?
That is obviously a very subjective choice, but I imagine that a color immediately sprang to mind as you read that question. Make a note of that color – our first intuitive response is often the best!
If you’ve studied the Psychology of Color, you know that much research has been done about how different colors affect us in different ways… not just emotional but also physiological effects.
I like to choose colors intuitively, and honestly that can change from day to day. Those color choices range from what scarf I wear or what eyeshadow I choose, to what colors I use in my design work.
When I am choosing colors for a quilt, I have a plan, but I find that I make my best choices when I audition lots of different colors and I go with what looks and feels right on a gut level. If I think about it too much I can psych myself out and then I just have to let it go and walk away for awhile. Have you had that experience too?
This quilt-and-fabric collage is inspired by the colorful scrappy quilt “Accumulative Effect” by Canadian quilter Stacey O’Malley, photographed at QuiltCon earlier this year. (This is a detail of the center section.)
These colors… just make me smile! Stacey says in her artist statement that she made it from all the leftover accumulated scraps from her first 25 quilts. (Wow!)
Those fabrics she used in her last 25 quilts are likely discontinued and long gone, but the overall effect is very fresh and joyful. I’ve pulled out some current fabrics to put in a collage border, that also make me smile and inspire me to go play with colors in my stash.
These are the colors I am seeing in my flower and vegetable garden right now, as Nature unfurls her Summer Sail here in Colorado. We have not yet been hit with the extreme heat of summer, and our foothills are a lush green, with distant snowy peaks and our sunny blue skies. Thank you Stacey for inspiring us with your brilliant scrappy quilt!
sharing your Passion for Fabric…
~Luana
2016 Calendar:
July 20-29 – Seville & Granada
Aug 6 – Intl Quilt Study Center/Museum – Lincoln Nebraska
Aug 12-14 – Festival of Quilts – Birmingham UK
Sept 18-25 – CUBA Arts Tour #2 – Havana, Trinidad & Varadaro – Now Booking – Space Limited!
Nov 11-13 – Color Marketing Group – Albuquerque
Nov 15-20 – Luana’s Polar Bear Tour
Edythe writes to us:
Luana,
That color of JOY quilt is beautiful. Wonder if we can ever get a pattern for that quilt. It is amazing. Fondly, Edythe Newman