PLANNING FOR COLOUR

Impeccable Colour Sense Essential For Excellent Flower Design

COLOUR SENSE isn't an innate gift in everyone, but it adds a huge possibility to your life in all areas. I come at my colour sense from my earliest training in typography and page layout in magazine production when it was still a manual project. And a colour wheel was a ready tool on the 'rim.' Today, we're lucky because computers at paint suppliers and large home-supply stores can match fabric swatches or magazine photos to paint shades and print up a photo. I still like picking up paint chips, even for discerning the hue and tones in the flowers the customer is wanting for a large wedding or convention.

YOUR FLORIST=YOUR FLOWER THERAPIST
According to Rutgers University, "flowers provide a simple way to improve emotional health." And the Pantone Color Institute, says there are five emotional colour palettes: nuturing, romantic, sensuous, tranquil and whimsical. And for 2008 the colour is a deep blue-purple, combining the "stable and calming aspects of blue with the mystical and spiritual qualities of purple."

COLOUR has three variable dimensions much the same as form is composed of height, width and depth. Colour is made up of hue, value and saturation.

Achromatic colours with no particular hue such as black, white, gray. Also called neutrals, although the term can be misconstrued as neutrals often include beiges, browns, taupes etc, which are colours based in a hue.For a look at their use in decorating, this interior designer emphasizes the importance of black. "Touches of black act like jewelry in the room ...as they enhance and clarify other colors."

Chroma is a quality of colour consisting of hue and saturation

Hue is a pure spectral colour that lacks addition of white, black or gray. The word is derived from the old English word, "hiw" meaning the name of colour.

Saturation is the strength of colour or the degree of purity, brilliance or intensity.

For an excellent academic review and graphic representation of these dimensions,particularly for the floral design or interior design student, see this university curriculum.

COOL COLOURS such as violets, blues and greens that lean toward blue. Referred to as 'receding.' Similarly to paint colours that can make rooms seem hotter or colder, flower arrangements will do the same. Darker shades tend to make a space seem more intimate and lighter, receding colours make the room feel that way too.

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