What Do You Look For In A Book About Creating Art?

     I love to read books about many different types of things. And art books are no exception. But as I've progressed, I'm more selective about which books I want to purchase about art techniques. They must have good photos, good examples, detailed descriptions, and exercises to do in order for me to want to spend time with them. In December, I got a book with color studies in it by Richard Mehl

  I have learned a lot from color studies in the past, but feel there is always more to learn. I've been too busy until recently to take the time to start studying from it, but this past week I settled down and did the first exercise in it. I took a meticulous approach to it and took my time creating a color wheel that I hope to use as reference in the future. I've done color wheels before; some simple ones and one that was more detailed, but this one shows me some relationships that are more complicated. 

     To get the exact colors, I purchased colored papers in a kit called Color-Aid. It has papers in 314 different hues, tints, and shades. They are labeled on the back with codes that tell how much white, black, etc. are in them. Just taking them and rearranging them in different ways is a good study. Also, using them as reference to mix paints is a good study. Because of the price, I was hesitant to buy the kit, but decided it would be so useful to me in many ways that it was worth it. 

     The first exercise in the book instructed me to make a color wheel with the 12 basic colors using tints, shades, and compliments if possible, and to also include a 14-step gradation of white to gray.  I could use paints or paper. I can't pass up a good challenge so I wanted to include as many tints, shades, and relationships as possible. I tried several designs sketched out on paper and got inspired when I looked at a mosaic fountain from Morocco. I like the eight-pointed star and the shapes that can be formed when combining the stars in patterns. It took a while to cut out the pieces and glue them together, trying to get everything matched up. All the shapes didn't match up exactly in the end (which is why I gave up piecing fabric long ago), but I'm pleased with the result. 

     I'm looking forward to exercise 2 about contrasts of dark and light. I'm linking this up to Off The Wall Friday where you can find other art blogs. Please make comments on the artists' posts so that they know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.