It does seem a bit out of season to be talking about fall colors in the middle of cold temperatures and a snowy winter, but I guess that’s life this February. Today we’re focusing on warm shades—and without a doubt, these are the colors of fall. In this post, I hope you will enjoy seeing the subtle nuances created simply with black added to a warm pure color.
Last week we featured the warmest shades of all, yellow, golden-yellow, and chartreuse. If you did not get a chance to look at this post, do hop over there to see these pure colors’ amazing transformations when black is added. Today we’ll look at the remaining warm pure colors and their luscious autumnal shades. Many of these hues are very popular in quilts, paintings, jewelry, and interior design.
In next week’s post, you will see a selection of quilts that include warm shades. These quilts may give you some ideas as to how you may want to use shades to make your designs visually compelling.
Spring-green Shade Scale
Pure spring green is the coolest of the warm autumnal greens. Many of these dark shades are the hues seen in evergreen forests.
Yellow-green Shade Scale
Yellow-green’s shades are prevalent in fall and are the hues of many leaves and vegetation. These are very popular warm greens. They are quite prevalent in fabric.
The Magic of Warm Rust and Brown Shades
When black is first added to the pure colors orange-yellow, yellow-orange, orange, orange-red, red, and blue-red, the pure color simply appears darker. As more black is added to the pure color, rust hues begin to appear. Eventually the rust turns to rusty browns and then browns as more black is added to the paint, dye, or other pigment. It seems magical. I have made a shade scale of each of these pure colors, so you can see the subtle changes within each of the pure colors’ shade scales and so you can see the subtle color differences from one pure color’s shade scale and another’s.
When you are using brown or rust in your artwork or interior design, it is important to know which pure color these shades come from. By knowing this information, you can make necessary adjustments, if needed. Also, you will be able to select the partnering color or colors with more accuracy. Hence, your design will be much more visually successful.
Warm Shade Scales
Orange-yellow Shade Scale
Notice how warm these rusts and browns are compared to the other pure colors’ shade scales. If you feature this color in your project and you want to add another color, its most beautiful partner is blue.
Yellow-orange Shade Scale
As you can see, yellow-orange rusts and browns show much warmth. If you choose to work with hues from this palette and you want to add an accent or a secondary color, your best choice is cerulean blue, yellow-orange’s natural complement.
Orange Shade Scale
As rusts and browns go, these hues do not evoke a yellowish cast nor a reddish cast. Instead, orange’s rusts and browns appear to be “in the middle.” So if you want strong rusts or browns that appear more neutral as far as temperature is concerned, this is the palette for you. Turquoise blue/cyan is orange’s natural complementary partner. They are stunning together.
Orange-red Shade Scale
You can see red’s subtle influence on orange-red’s rusts and browns. They are gorgeous shades—and hard to find in fabric. If your medium is paint, you can mix amazing rusts and browns with orange-red and black. Orange-red’s natural color partner is aqua blue.
Red Shade Scale
Blackened red provides us with glorious hues of reddish rusts and browns. Maroon is another variation of blackened red. If only we could find fabrics to match the deep hues of the darkest shades in red…. For many of us, it’s a total surprise to find that the true natural partner to red is aqua green (not green). When you combine red with aqua green, you have an amazing marriage of two colors.
Blue-red Shade Scale
Although blue-red is fairly cool compared to the other warm colors shown here, some of our fall hues do come from blue-red. This pure color’s shades have a plummy feeling to them. Even the darkest hues can appear to be a deep plum-brown. If you want the perfect natural partner for blue-red’s shades, select blue-green. These two families of hues are awesome together.
Aren’t the subtle differences amazing? Keep your eyes on the lookout for these warm shades. What’s your favorite?
A Call for Quilts, Fabric Art, or Fiber Art
Next week I am going to feature a few quilts using the warm shades—-the fall colors. If you have a quilt that uses deep, rich warm shades, feel free to email me a jpg image of your quilt. Include your name, the artwork’s name, and any other information you want to share.
I would like to add two or so more quilts to next week’s lesson, so I’ll be happy to see what you have available. Talk to you next week.
Joen
Text, illustrations, and photography copyright © Joen Wolfrom
Joen is a color enthusiast who teaches and lectures on color. She has written three color books: Color Play, Visual Coloring, and The Magical Effects of Color. Her Studio Color Wheel is used to illustrate color concepts in many of these blog posts. She is also the designer of the 3-in-1 Color Tool. Her new book Adventures in Designis now available. Joen’s newest design tool, the Magic Design-Ratio Tool has just been released. All books and products are published by C & T Publishing.
