In my summer studies I have the good fortune this year to study with one of my most admired teachers and I have chosen to do a self-portrait rug hooked piece.
I consulted with many artists using different mediums to select this subject. They all concurred that choosing a self-portrait truly stretches an artist in ways that are originally unseen.
Choosing a monochromatic for my project in the color yellow adds to the difficulty of this class. Yellow, I find, is one of the hardest colors to dye in my color palette.
In selecting the hue that correctly represents the portrait photo, I use wool swatches from my stash along with their corresponding formulas. Bea Brock's Golden Yellow Jade in her book Jewel Tones matches the hue almost perfectly, or at least I thought it did.
I created a batch of dye using her medium dark dye measurements. She uses this to dye 1/2 yard of wool. Making up swatches from values 1-5 and value 8 it was immediately apparent that it was too bright. So, knowing that the complement to yellow is purple, I consulted Joen Wolfram's Ultimate Color Tool to see exactly the color to use to tone this yellow down. Comparing the yellows with the color tool, I chose the color card, flipped it over and saw that the direct complement to this yellow was Pro Chemical Wash Fast Acid dye in Violet 818. Again, I created a batch of dye according to Bea's formula and added a scant 1/64 teaspoonful to the 2-cup mix. After dyeing the same swatch set values 1-5 and 8, it was obvious that the violet greyed the yellow somewhat and made it a deeper yellow. I liked this better. I like to tell my students that it took the top off the color. Meaning, it reduced the brash brightness to a more mild hue.
Please use this concept when dulling colors that you may have created that are too bright. The Ultimate Color Tool is a great way to determine which colors are the direct complement to others.