Art books are fantastic sources of inspiration for creative work, and books about colour inspire us to use new colour palettes and push us out of our colour comfort zones. I recently received 'Spectrum: Heritage Patterns and Colours' as a gift and it's already influencing the colours in my work. With large colour photos of each textile or wallpaper and the colours featured in each design presented as a separate colour palette, this book is a colour reference treasure!
So, if you're looking for new ways to express yourself through colour, or are interested in heritage patterns and designs, read on and find out more about this fascinating book.
Spectrum: Heritage Patterns and Colours, printed by Thames and Hudson in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum (2018), is certainly what I'm looking for in a good art or colour reference book. Each double-page spread features a large picture of a textile or wallpaper, along with a short piece of text explaining the history of the piece. It's just enough information to be interesting and informative, without being so long that I feel I'm being bogged down in the text.
The feature that takes this book to another level, however, is the colour grid. This shows the relative proportions of the main colours used, each labelled with it's CYMK number (a standard number that precisely defines that particular colour). This means that you can easily appreciate the combination of colours without distraction from the pattern itself. I also find that I sometimes don't notice a colour has been used at all when looking at the pattern alone and so the grid helps me to see the palette much more clearly.
Some of the textile and wallpaper patterns feature botanical designs, often with the addition of insects and birds. Each time I look at this book, I'm overwhelmed by the beauty and intricacy of many of the designs. One of my favourites is the Fukusa (Japanese textile cover) which features cranes embroidered in silk and metallic thread on silk satin. The piece was created between 1840 and 1870 by an unknown creator and is an amazing work of art.
There are several designs in the book that feature more unusual motifs. The furnishing fabric designed for Edinburgh Weavers in the 1930s, features a design inspired by the wildlife of Kruger National Park in South Africa.
The River Rug, created in 1903 by C.F.A. Voysey, is another unusual textile. The piece is hand-knotted in wool on a canvas base and was likely intended to be a hearth rug. The design is like a map and even includes a miniature version of the maker's family home.
The book covers the period from 1400, right up to 2009, over 255 pages. Some of the more recent designs include the Liberty furnishing fabric 'Mirage' (1955), 'Large Eel' by Paul Simmons for Timorous Beasties (1992) and the wallpaper 'Flower Bed' by the American artist Trenton Doyle Hancock (2003).
Spectrum: Heritage Patterns and Colours has an RRP of £20 and, in my opinion, is well worth the investment. I've already started using this book as a source of inspiration when deciding on colour palettes for my own artwork and I've also enjoyed comparing the colours that I've used in artworks, with the palettes that feature in this book. I'm finding that this book is a fantastic way of helping me explore colour in more depth and can see that it'll be one I'll go back to time and time again.
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