Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Tone...



I was thinking today about tone, and how it can be used by way of a 'tonal palette' to draw attention to shape and form. These two (beloved) objects of mine set me on this path of thinking...and I feel that wooden objects (and wood in general) is a perfect example of this....

{On a side note..I love these because their usage, their history and their form somehow amalgamate into objects that I find exceptionally beautiful. Wood has such depth, such beauty and such history..a feeling that I try (really hard) to emulate in work I make (through the tonal palette use). Years ago I saw an image in a magazine of a collection of vintage hat moulds displayed on a wall...this image moved me, and has stayed with me all these years (now I have the first hat mould of my own collection!)....today Mav posted about Heroines, and I immediately thought that the said image was mine, odd I know, as it is not a person..and what an strange thought assosiation to have!}

So yes..back to tone. The series Lisa has been making 'Drawing a Day' has been so wonderful to watch evolve, not only because the drawings are beautiful, but (I think) because the content becomes even more-so when emphasised due to the limited colour palette. You really concentrate on the lines, their weight, the form and content...free from (for want of a better word) distraction. It is an odd thing really, as I do love colour so much, but find when I reflect and analyse that I tend to limit my colour palette in my work (past and present), when I dress (although not obsessively!) and when I arrange my things, or would do if had a whole house to myself!! You see..I am thinking on this so much as I am considering making another collection sometime soon that maybe combines charcoal grey (oxidised silver) and pinky tones (some rose quartz and amythests)...

Then sometimes, I just love to group a riot of colour..as seen here with an update of my flickr favourites ...so who knows? Maybe it is variety that is most moving of all!! :) xox

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

what a glorious and thoughtful entry. i will write you an email because i have too much to say about it for comments. and by the way ... your Flickr Faves go SO well together. i just love that. more soon .... thanks for making me think! mav

lisa solomon said...

oh abigail.... we are SO SO on the same page....

i LOVE your wooden objects.... and i love love your thoughts on tone. i am so honored to be a part of your thought process....

it is funny how when you reduce something to it's element you CAN concentrate on the line, the space, the other intangibles that often get lost. and i too am a GIANT color freak... your favs and mine are quite quite similar.... my brain is spinning... thank you!

shari said...

your wooden objects are so lovely. what a nice entry today. you've given me lots to think about. xoxo shari

Anonymous said...

i love your association of the image with the post on heroines - i can imagine that the hat moulds are conveying something quite archetypal as well as having obviously struck a chord in you so that the image means so much to you.

i've been thinking a lot recently about limiting my own colour pallette and i've only just realised that it's probably in part the influence of looking at your lovely fabric patterns that has made me start considering this! reading your post about it was making me go "yea yea" and then i thought, hang on, would i have been thinking about this if it wasn't for looking at your work? :)

i can't tell you how nice it is to feel connected with people who can talk about things like this again! thank you for sharing these thoughts.

Anonymous said...

i always have that debate with myself when i'm drawing or painting - i usually end up using a minimal color palette, after wondering whether i should use more or not...

i do love tonal things, even when it's tone on tone stuff, like some things that camilla does or the letter press that maria does... ♥

anyway, i loved this post... how inspiring is this, you being inspired by mav, who was inspired by the heroines, and now a bunch of others, including me, will be inspired by you! :)

Anonymous said...

Was the photo you saw of hat forms on the wall, the home of textile designer Neisha Crosland? Beautiful old pieces, I have a shoe form that I adore...

Abigail A. Percy said...

Hey all..so glad you like this post :) funny how our brains tend to wander onto these more obscure topics of universal interest...

Sharon, thank you so much..that is so kind of you to say! I am really glad the blogging is giving you that connection to others and opening up thoughts and discussions, that is exactly what I love about it too..so well put!

Stella, so nice to have you visit..thank you so much.. *blushing* at the idea of being inspriational when I still feel so unsure and new at it all...so sweet of you to say!

Ulla...YES!! That is the exact one! From Red magazine, 2001 I think....the image is quite unassuming, but the content was like *WOW* for me :)...so glad you know the one I mean!! It was a great article as well...I was so into her work back then.

Just back from the tai chi class, so relaxing a bit this evening, so as not to undo all the good work :P

Xox

Anonymous said...

i love your thoughts on the new collection! I know I am going to die when I see it - charcoal and pinky tones! yes

great thoughts here about colour and tone too...I am so random with my colour choices and it is something i want to work on

thanks for making me think about this

Oh and I love how an image can affect you so much (in the same way a person could influence), I have magazine cuttings that I have had for years and when I look at them now they are still fresh and inspiring to me

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful post, Abigail! Indeed, a lot to think about! But that is so good - to keep asking yourself about your work and why you make choices you make. A good reminder was this...