Block talk - Lisa Boni

I was asked to feature a block with bright colors and this incredible block by Lisa Boni certainly qualifies.

No laces, trims here, just vibrant color, beautiful stitching and beads...

Before I talk about the colors I want to point out that in all this busyness  of this block that Lisa left that wonderful quiet space in the center patch.  It perfectly accentuates her floral focal point.  If she had filled in that area with stitching the focal point would have been lost all together...

If you looked at these colors separately you might not think to choose to use them together but they are definitely WOW and there is a reason.  They are all touching colors on a color wheel and all relate to each other....harmony right?  The green and pink are the last colors in this section of the wheel to have a warm element in them...

It's no accident that the blue accent on the block stands out.  It's the only cool color and the complementary color of orange. Nervous about color?  If you only picked any three touching colors on ANY part of the color wheel you would be guaranteed to have a harmonious color combination.  Lisa repeated these colors in her choices of threads and beads...

As to repetition (echoing) the most recurring element is an arc and it is everywhere.

And these arcs carry your eye right around the focal point in the block...

And again there was a linear repetition in the stitches she chose.

And last but not least these little yellow beads hop along like little musical notes.

This block was part of a year long CQJP project for Lisa and she used the same colors all year.
In one of her posts she did a critic of her own block which you will find interest to see how the artist looks at her own work..
 






Since I pointed out using touching colors on the color wheel I should also mention you cannot go wrong using two colors that are across the wheel and complement each other... ...here is an entire block using two complementary colors -blue and orange..  This block is by Claudia Weinwurm in Austria.  She used to blog but hasn't recently.  This was part of her cqjp2012.  She does all types of embroidery but these under the sea blocks were my favorite...  Look at all the movement and activity in the center of this block!!!!

So when you are feeling stuck on a block and looking for the right thing to add....remember contrast, repetition, movement.