Progression Explained
About the Project
Progression explores the visual effects of traveling through sequences of colors. Arranged in vertical or horizontal segments of varying sizes, the project reveals how neighboring colors activate each other, creating vibrations and perceptual shifts across the composition. Each color's presence reverberates throughout the entire piece, generating chromatic echoes and harmonies. As colors transition within each segment—either in distinct steps or smooth gradients—they produce different visual phenomena. Distinct steps create a push-pull effect that undulates across each individual color, while smooth gradients blur edges and create visual ambiguity. The color sequences also create an illusion of depth as certain transitions appear to move forward or backward in space based on their hue and value.
This project builds on the work of artists who have inspired me to investigate color theory in my own work, such as Paul Klee, Josef Albers, Mark Rothko, and Gene Davis. Klee approached color like music, observing how colors resonate with their neighbors like musical notes forming chords. Albers identified the "fluting" effect—the visual bending that occurs when arranging colors in mathematically even steps. Rothko demonstrated how subtle transitions of color create atmospheric effects that pull you in for deeper consideration. And Davis explored how stripes of color generate rhythm and movement across a composition, adding a kinetic dimension to his work.
Initial Structure
The starting decision for each Progression is its orientation. Each piece can be oriented either vertically or horizontally with its color transitions moving linearly in that direction.
The next decision is the overall number of segments. The possible number of segments are: [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12]
The extremes are set to be less frequent than the intermediate values, with 12 segments being the least common. This weighting allows very minimal compositions and highly active compositions to occur but with less frequency.
Once the number of segments is determined, their individual sizes are calculated as a relative percentage of the overall composition. The minimum segment size is set to 5% of the total size, and the sum of all segments must equal 100%.
Color Generation
Once the number and size of segments have been determined, color generation begins. Parent colors are randomly assigned to the edges of each segment, such that the ending color of one segment becomes the starting color of the next segment. This sequencing is what ultimately creates a continuous progression of color across the entire composition. The overall set of parent colors is also checked to ensure it has sufficient variance in hue and value and is regenerated if not.
Color Injections
After the parent colors have been generated, there are two types of "injections" that can occur. The first is a doubling of one of the parent colors so that both edges of a segment are the same color, causing a block of solid color in the composition.
The other type of injection is a beam injection, where one of the parent colors is replaced by either pure white or pure black.
Color Modifications
Once the initial structure and parent colors have been selected, two possibilities for color modifications are introduced: tinted and saturated. You may recognize these same color modifications from my 2021 project Color Study.
Progressions with a tinted color modification have white added to all the parent colors to create the effect of pastels.
Progressions with a saturated color modification have each of the parent colors pushed to its maximum saturation to create a vibrant mixture.
Color Overrides
Finally, there are two additional override features that can alter the set of parent colors.
The first override is complementary, where after the initial parent color is selected, each successive parent color is changed to be the complementary hue of the previous parent. This creates an alternating sequence of complementary colors across the composition.
The second override is called 3-cycle. This override is possible in Progressions with more than four segments and causes the parent colors to repeat every third segment. This creates a cyclical pattern of color across the composition.
Building the Progression
Once the parent colors have been finalized, it's time to build the progression. For each segment, the algorithm must determine how to transition from one parent color to the next. This happens in one of two ways: through stepped transitions or smooth gradients.
For stepped transitions, the algorithm divides each segment into a number of discrete steps between 3 and 10. Each step represents an equal visual step between the starting and ending parent colors.
For smooth gradients, the algorithm creates a continuous blend between the two parent colors
The accumulated set of decisions about the transition type of each segment determines the style feature for each Progression. When a Progression has a mixture of smooth and stepped transitions, its style is mixed. When it consists only of stepped transitions, its style is stepped, and when it consists only of smooth gradients, its style is smooth.
Special Styles
Finally, there are two special styles that pay tribute to artists who influenced this project.
The Rothko style creates color progressions reminiscent of Mark Rothko's atmospheric color field paintings. When this style is activated, the algorithm enforces a vertical orientation and smooth blends. For each segment, instead of a linear transition from one color to the next, the segment color instead fades in and out of the background color. This approach attempts to recreate the characteristic soft edges of Rothko's work in a Progression format.
The Davis style honors Gene Davis's stripe paintings by creating compositions with dynamic bands of color. When this style is activated, the algorithm enforces a horizontal orientation and distinct steps of equal size. Instead of transitioning between a starting and ending color, each stripe receives a random color selected from all the possible mixtures of the parent colors. This approach attempts to replicate the rhythmic, syncopated patterns of Gene Davis's work, where color sequences create optical effects and movement across the canvas.
