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Choosing Colours - the book
How this book works - extracted from the introduction
to Choosing Colours
There are some 700 colours in CHOOSING COLOURS, arranged
into 64 palettes. Although some palettes run over more than
two pages, whenever you open a page book, the colours you
see will form a coherent arrangement.
I could simply have provided a list of 700 interesting colours,
but that would have been pointless. The choice of any colour
must be an informed one. We use colour in an informed way,
exploiting its perceived value and associations to convey
unspoken and unwritten ideas and emotions. So, every colour
in this book comes from somewhere, is connected to a thing
or place or time, and is indicated as such, allowing you to
make the most of its associated values if you want to.
What is even more powerful is the ability of a group of colours
to convey a message, either very directly or in a more subtle
and complex way, which is why nearly every colour in this
book is shown as part of a group of colours, a palette.
The palettes take their inspiration from all sorts of sources.
Some are accurate reproductions of the colours of decorated
objects: historic tiles from the Middle East; Sèvres
porcelain; Roman mosaics; Greek pottery: all objects of great
value in the history of decoration and design. Others are
taken from historical examples of wallpainting, whether it
be Minoan or houses of the eighteenth century. Some are derived
from the colours of place and country. Others are contemporary
in origin, taking as their sources modern signage, the car,
and new colour systems.
You can extract colours from the book in a variety of ways:
by copying an entire palette and employing the full force
of any association or subtle value it may have; by drawing
on a smaller group of colours; or by using just one colour.
In fact, the palettes are arranged in different ways too.
Some are coherent wholes, others are split into distinct sub-groups
of a few colours.
Some of the palettes are not assembled from one source or
with any great plan behind them. They are simply collections
of good colours from which you can choose at random. All the
historical wall colours from the eighteenth, nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries are good examples of this kind of
palette, from which you can simply choose a reasonably authentic
colour to paint your 1780s living room or your 1920s front
door. If you do not feel constrained by the need for a period
atmosphere, consult the sixteen palette section Pure Colours
(see pages 12-45). They are just that: colours that I have
chosen from among the 3,000 controllable colours in the six-colour
Hexachrome® printing process (see page 11) and which I
have grouped by hue (blue, yellow-orange, etc.). These selections
are not comprehensive by any means, but each colour has its
own separate and worthwhile character.
The palettes are not named according to their sources but
according to their overall perceived character. This provides
the hidden advantage of removing any prejudice you might have
about a colour or arrangement of colours. You could be very
drawn to a set of colours for, say, your living room, or a
project, or an ad campaign you are running. Were that palette
to occur in a section marked 'Wall Colours' and be called
'Early Jericho', you might be put off using it even before
you had finished reading the title. Better to thumb through
the book and just mark the palettes that catch your eye, than
be bogged down and blinkered by words.
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The Choosing Colours book is readily available at W H Smiths and other
leading booksellers and you can buy it on-line from us, click
here, or alternatively from Amazon.
To choose and buy paint - click buy
paint.
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How
colour works >>
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