A theory of pure design - Denman Waldo Ross

HLt

LLt

Blk

Diagram 5

		2ds	3ds	3s
Wt
HLt	R
		O
Lt	Y		V	N
		G
LLt	B		O	N
		V
M	R		G	N
		O
HD	Y		V	N
		G
D	B		O	N
		V
LD	R
Blk

This diagram shows the results of mixing seconds, thirds, and threes. It is evident that in mixing the tones of any sequence in this way we go beyond the strict limitations of the sequence, particularly in mixing thirds and threes. The results obtained are fairly definite, however, and the tones obtainable are still within the range of definite thinking. If we should go farther, to the mixture of tones beyond the interval of the third, we should get into the region of indefinite possibilities.

160. It must be clearly understood that our object in using these sequences and more or less restricted mixtures is to limit our thinking so that it may gain in definiteness what it loses in extent. When we limit our thinking in any case to a few tones,—certain colors in certain values,—we come to know those tones so well that we can imagine any one of them vividly, without seeing it. It is only when we have in mind definite tone-images that we begin to think in tone-relations and rise to the possibilities of imaginative composition in tones.

In using the sequences which I have described the tones must be carefully mixed and prepared upon the palette and set there in the order of the sequence, whatever it is. That gives the painter certain colors in certain values. That is to say, he has a certain number of tones to consider and to use. He takes one of the tones into his brush and gives it a position, a measure, and a shape. That done, he takes another tone and gives to that a position, measure, and shape. Proceeding in this way he creates a certain relationship of tones, positions, measures, and shapes, the terms of which relationship are perfectly definite. He repeats what he finds satisfactory. He avoids what he finds unsatisfactory. Experimenting in this way, in such definite terms, he ought to make a sure and steady progress toward the discovery of what is orderly and beautiful. The use of any particular sequence of values and colors is like the use, by the musician, of a well-tuned instrument. It is at once a definition of terms and a source of suggestion and of inspiration.

There is nothing occult or sacred about these sequences and combinations of sequences. In using them we are in no way safeguarded against error. Using these sequences, we can produce bad effects of light and of color as well as good ones. Whether the results of using these sequences are good or bad depends upon the user—what his thinking amounts to. It will be a grave mistake to regard any of these sequences as recipes for righteousness, when they are simply modes of thought. They are nothing more than the sections or divisions of a general classification of tones. In using any particular sequence we observe that the same value and color-relations recur repeatedly. That is always desirable from the point of view of Design. It means Harmony.

161. The beauty of any scheme of values and colors depends, not only upon the pigment-materials used, upon the sequence of values and colors chosen and upon the particular tones produced, but quite as much upon the relative positions and juxtapositions given to the tones, the quantities or measures in which they are used, and, lastly, the way in which the paint is handled. To find out what tones to use as ground-tones, what tones to put upon these ground-tones, and in what quantities or measures, is a matter of experimental practice and of visual and imaginative discrimination.

Having defined the word tone and its elements, value, color, and color-intensity, and having established a general classification of tones to show the possibilities of tone, I must go on to describe what will be orderly in tone-relations. Order and Beauty in tone-relations will be found in Tone-Harmonies, Tone-Balances, and Tone-Rhythms.