11. Texture

The psychological, aesthetic and structural potential of colours and textures is outstanding.

Just as there are contrasting and complementary colours, there are also contrasting and complementary textures. Textures are classified by their visual and tactile quality as rough and smooth, hard & soft, warm and cool, glossy and matt, transparent and opaque, porous and compact, fibrous and non-fibrous, and so on. The function and colour of the creation mostly guide the choice of texture. Contrasting textures such as jute and wood, metal and silk or stone and grass together form the textural spectrum.

Colours and textures enhance our visual experience - not only because of their obvious embellishment value, but also because of their spatio-plastic behaviour. They are known to affect the human psyche: to the extent that the colour and fabric of a garment that you choose to wear on a particular morning is supposed to reflect your mood on that day. Why do we associate blue denims with boys and pink satin with girls? Why is green synonymous with envy, red with anger and blue with depression? Why is white the colour of purity, and why does black represent evil? Just as warm colours seem to expand, rough textures seem to advance; just as cool colours seem to contract, smooth textures seem to recede.

Colours and textures must also be matched well, with each other, and for maximum visual impact, with the form that they would together embellish. For instance, the Taj Mahal or the Gateway of India are so impressive, because of their surface treatment: white marble for the Taj, and light brown Malad stone for the Gateway. Neither of these imposing monuments would have been interesting architectural works, if they had been like the usual buildings - plastered concrete masses painted with synthetic colours. The same logic applies to daily life, by which cotton shirts go well with denim skirts, and embroidered blouses with plain silk sarees.

Colour -- form relationship

Colours

• enhance the visual appearance of the form
• destroy the visual continuity of the form
• add to the spatial qualities of the form
• tend to flatten the form, making it seemed less three-dimensional
• relieve concave, convex, and negative areas
• show your mistakes
• conflict with the form; be wrong for the form
• direct eye movement over the form
• attract attention
• contrast or blend the form with its environment
• soften and harden a form
• give the illusion of transparency and translucency
• evoke emotional responses
• are informative
• change the thermal qualities of a form
• create tension
• are appealing.