The nice thing about color theory is that it works across all kinds of media. What changes isn’t the color theory, but the way the media is applied.

Color theory for thread is different only in the fact that you really don’t mix colors. Instead, you lie them next to each other, and your eye mixes them.

These nurse sharks are part of my octopus garden. I don’t have their octopus stitched yet, but they were compelling. I love the spiky shapes. They will have orange-yellow stripes. I’m not quite there yet. Right now, I want them round and shaded, with a clear indication of which side is up. I need smooth color for that.

Smooth color creates a color range.

The formula for it is

• A dark base color
• A dark complementary color as a shader
• A range of colors in the base family
• A bright color as a shocker
• A lighter or brighter shade of the base color to finish.
• If the subject is too large, I can zone the areas of the image and repeat the formula in a set of lighter or darker shades.
• I usually work light to dark. The last color will be the most prevalent, so keep that in mind. Sometimes with fish or frog bellies, I color the dark to middle section, add the lightest color on the other edge, and work in my darker colors, so the tummies aren’t so blatant.

I chose green as my shocker color. Usually, I would have used either the blue or purple complement, but orange is so strident. I will use yellow for the stripes, but I think I’ll brown them out so they don’t scream at me.

It takes a fair amount of courage to add the shocker. The shader layer makes visual sense. The shocker layer screams at you. There’s a terrible urge to rip it out immediately. But it quiets down once you put the next layer of the base color. And the color is smooth without being bland. The shocker is an electric spark in a range of smooth, quiet color.

It’s time consuming, but I love the base colors. Between the shocker and the shader, the color has a splash of excitement, but creates a flow color base.

What will they look like with yellow-orange stripes? I expect they’ll be quite jazzed up. I’ll show you next week.