Have no idea your age but developing cataracts change how you see color. After my first surgery, I was seeing the royal blue of the football Cowboys as a periwinkle blue. I had chosen a border fabric during that time that I discovered was totally wrong after the surgery. When I went back to the store to replace that, the clerk commented that her grandmother had to take an entire quilt apart as red and pink were the problem and her entire quilt, not just the border of mine, was totally "off". My eye dr told me to consider the art of Monet and see how his color choices changed through the years and it probably was because of developing cataracts.

there's also an iquilt class on color theory for quilters by Katie Pasquini-Masopust-- I haven't taken that one, but I have taken her other classes and they were very good. Her use of color is excellent, as is Joen Wolfram's who teaches the Craftsy class. I haven't taken the one on Craftsy, but I do have several of Joen Wolfram's books and they are excellent resources for both color and design.

Rob

I agree with toverly, only I place the fabric in order on the scanner part of my printer and print it in black and white. The value of the fabrics is then very easy to see.

Check out Jinny Beyers' website.........she is GREAT with colors!!!

Also.......
 

I agree that high contrast is needed for that quilt (Outside The Box). I've taken many classes by renowned color experts, Katie Pasquini-Masopust and others. And I've learned to 'see' color better. Katie teaches overlays which is useful to learn tints and shades of colors. I learned a lot from Sandy Bonsib who took me into a quilt shop and showed me primary, secondary and tertiary colors side by side. How lucky am I!? But, my concern is that you say you don't see the orange or blue in a certain red unless they are side by side. I'm not sure if this is a visual problem or you just need lessons and practice. I guess if I were you I would cut some swatches and make my own little color wheel. There are great tools and instructions online on how to do this. Try thecolourguru.wordpress.com, http://www.colorspire.com/overview/, or google 'color wheel projects' on Pinterest. Those will get you started. I hope this all has been helpful, keep us posted please.

Get a color wheel where you will be able to see primary colors, analageous colors and monochromatic colors. This will help you see your color values in the colors you have chosen. Hope this helps. I learned this in Art Class I and II.

Thanks. I tried this, and it was helpful with the blues in my Outside the Box quilt. But I'm making a Disappearing 9 Patch comfort quilt and picked a bright yellow for the 4 blocks that get cut down the middle. Poor choice - the quilt screams yellow, but in black and white the yellow fades to a very light grey. I need to learn what this is telling me. The comfort quilt has a deadline, so no time to pick another fabric. I counting on little kids liking bright colors!

I've bookmarked this. Thanks for the link.

I've added it to my list. I'll watch for the next good sale.

Well, it's going to scream louder at you than at anyone else, I think, because you are focused in on it now. Little kids do like bright colors.
I empathize with you, because I have problems with color value too.