Welcome to a brand new series from our Design Team – we thought we’d have a look at colour theory and how you can use (or knowingly break) these rules to create pages that pop.
Each week we’re going to peel back the layers of the theory and see how it can be translated into perfect page layouts.
We begin with the very basics of the colour wheel – primary, secondary and tertiary colours.
These probably need very little introduction, but it all starts here with the traditional subtractive primary colours – red, yellow and blue. From just these three colours, any other colour can be created.
Two of these primary colours – red and yellow - just happen to be Leeann’s favourites! When Leeann started to piece this page together she knew that the photo would be best in black and white for it to shine as well as the colours themselves.
Leeann used patterned papers from Echo Park - little boy and walk in the park. Jenni Bowlin has a fantastic range especially embellishments in primary colours with that added vintage/retro feel - which Leeann also loves! Leeann has used red and blue chipboard polka dot buttons, the yellow vellum butterflies and the red trim alpha stickers.
With the secondary colours in mind - purple, orange and green - Danielle knew she needed to choose a main colour for her layout to give her a good starting point. Orange is a vibrant secondary colour, made from yellow and red, and is the warmest of the three. Danielle added some gesso and orange paint to the Anna Griffin 'Carmen' patterned paper she had chosen as a background, using the swiping technique with an old store card, to create a stronger orange base.
While each secondary colour is created from mixing two primaries, the resulting hues can be equally strong. For example, here Danielle has used a Hambly overlay in deep magenta purple to contrast with the orange background, and the two tones together are a rich combination. The touches of green add freshness and a lighter feeling to the page.
On the 12-colour wheel shown above, there are then six, more subtle tertiary colours which are created by mixing a primary and the secondary colour adjacent to it. Suz has used several of these of in her layout above including yellow-orange (amber), red-orange (vermillion) and blue-green or aqua which the My Minds’s Eye ‘Stella Rose Mabel’ line happily provided.
Suz created a neutral background of kraft cardstock and 7gypsies tissue paper which she then gessoed over to soften it slightly and then colour blocked around her photo. She echoed the amber under her journalling with a strip of co-ordinating twill.
Next week we’ll be looking at warm and cool colours and the differing moods and statements you can make by incorporating them into your layouts.
