To use color effectively, you need to discover:

• Your color likes, dislikes, challenges, and strengths
• The DNA of color (also known as color theory)

Get started by keeping a color journal. It provides you the opportunity to play and to break free from what others are doing by discovering your own creative potential with the fabrics uniquely your own.

Supplies you’ll need:

• Sketchbook or Color Mastery Quilt Journal Kit CD (available at the book launch party and on this website soon!)
• Glue stick
• Scissors
• Inspirational photos
• Fabrics from your stash or scraps

Three ways to get started in your color journal:

1. Create a color palette from photos and magazine clippings by identifying their main colors and mining your stash, cutting and pasting swatches in your journal.
   
2. Aim for a greater variety of lights and darks in your palette.  See how the contrast in your quilt would become stronger with the addition of a greater range of lights and darks.
   
3. Take the first step in learning color theory by making your own color wheel with your stash (the color wheel chart is available in the blog sidebar).  It’s an eye-opening exercise to see your stash reflected back to you in an arrangement that places similar colors together and different colors opposite each other on the wheel.

The time I spend in my color journal pays off ten times over, as I discover what colors appeal to me, those that don’t, and how I can develop fresh color palettes using the colors I love.  And I even learn how to appreciate challenging colors and make them work in my quilts.  What can you discover about color once you begin keeping a color journal?

Look for a new product at the end of this month:  the Color Mastery Quilt Journal Kit CD.  It will have printable pages for your journal, both blank & gridded with color harmonies along the bottom (see photo above), and guided exercise pages.  It’s a great way to get started and a journal is as close as your home printer!