Exercise 3.1 Gouache studies

Aim: collate, thoroughly observe and record colour palettes from a series of textiles

Part 1

Printed sample

The brief was to source printed textile samples containing four to six colours, and use gouache paints to match the colours used in the sample.

I chose a sample of cotton jersey, printed in muted and pale shades, with quite a sweet and childlike design featuring flowers and plump fairies.

The background colour is quite a muted purple. The overall impression of the palette is cool and muted with colours ranging from deep aubergine and forest green, through to pale pinks and blues, by way of olive green which is a surprising accent colour and one I found particularly difficult to match.

I found it quite hard to mix the gouache paints to the right consistency in order to make them opaque, as well as matching them to the colour required, so there was lots of trial and error:

I also realised after I had done this that the fabric sample I had chosen had more than six colours in the printed design. Some of the shades were very close to each other, which made it more difficult also.

I tried to note down the colours that I used to mix the shades to match the printed sample as I went along in order to be able to recreate them later if needed. I referred to Chapter 3 of Hornung, 2005, to help with mixing the gouache paints to match the sample and found this information on using raw umber in particular in order to make the tones more muted was particularly helpful.

Neutral sample

For the neutral sample I chose a fabric with an interesting weave with different textures and scales of thread in the warp and weft. Colours range from the deepest grey/practically black, through beiges and greys to an accent of gold thread that runs through the fabric:

The gold thread made me consider how to represent it in paint: should I actually use gold somehow or try to replicate its luminosity in gouache? I chose the latter option and tried to create a matching shade, which I think is quite successful.

Part 2

For this part the brief was to source another colour printed sample, but this time to in addition to matching the colours, extend the design from a 10 cm square to a 20 cm square. For this exercise I selected a sample of brushed cotton which was printed with quite an unusual design in yellows and blues. I thought this would be a good contrast to the printed sample used in Part 1.

I had to think carefully about how to recreate and extend the colours and patterns in observed in the sample and experimented with different brushes, crumpled greaseproof paper and crumpled foil, as well as a textured kitchen cloth as methods for transferring paint onto paper (see work in progress below).

In the finished version below, I think the colour matches are quite good and the stippled effect of the paint echoes the printed sample. The colours extend outwards, radiating from the centre and magnifying the central motif:

On reflection, I think I tried to do this in the wrong order: I should have concentrated on creating a base layer first, the cream shade that lies below all the others, and instead I tried to add this layer later. I think I have captured the essence of this design, however, and the edge of the fabric blends quite well into the surrounding gouache paint.

Again. lots of trial and error to mix the right shades:

Part 3

This time the brief was to colour match and extend a neutral sample. For this sample I tried to be more playful, and imagined the chenille textured threads present in the sample coming to life and trying to escape from the fabric.

I think the areas that have worked best are where I have combined different shades of grey to suggest the chenille as it weaves in and out of the base fabric.

The nature of the fabric, particularly the finely woven background fabric, made it hard to render in gouache paint, as I found it hard to get the lines of paint fine enough to suggest this. Perhaps I should have added pencil lines to suggest this? Or perhaps the rendering of the background fabric was not necessary?

Again, mixing the colours to match was a challenge, with lots of experiments:

Reference

Hornung, D. (2005) Colour: A workshop for artists and designers. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd. pp.42-49.