I recently reported that we had made some tests for color mixing in disegno. This week we have started a new exercise to test the effect of individual color combinations by mixing tessere made of coloured paper.
To get hold as close to the original colors of the different areas of a work from Paul Klee, we just ripped coloured paper into appropriate snippets and put one above the other. The aim was not so much the copy of the template, but more exploiting the possibilities offered by the medium mosaic by playing with complementary colors and the combination of different tonalities.
The beauty of the exercise is that, overlaying the snippets of paper, you understand pretty well the different possibilities to create a color. Sometimes adding a minuscule amount of color is sufficient to change the effect of a region completely. Try this out at home! It may seem stupid, but surely helps a lot when planning a mosaic.
There is an excellent app for the iPad that has sets of exercises on colour principles originated by Josef Albers based on the book Interction of Colour.