The Colors of Now

Where does the inspiration for the colors you use come from? I think more than a few of us simply have our favorite colors and keep returning to them while a good handful make a conscious effort every year or even every season to come up with a new palette or variation on an old palette to work with. But regardless of our usual approach, we are, constantly getting input on color. We differ in how we process it and whether it affects our tastes and, more to the point here, how it might affect our color choices in our artwork.

Color constantly changes in our surrounding world, most commonly in goods like clothing and cars and such. There are even announcements about the upcoming colors of the season and articles on color trends. These can be useful if your market is sensitive to these changes, but it won’t necessarily feed your personal color cravings. I myself am quite aware that I lean towards a very autumnal inspired palette. Well, lean is a bit too soft a word … I cling to it like a shy child with a favorite worn out blanket! I have to constantly push myself to broaden my palette not because my choices are bad or are getting stale but because if I don’t, I won’t know what I might be missing out on.

However, right now I get to have my fill of my favorites as I glory in the fall colors of the Western United States. I headed out a couple days ago on a 3-week trip that will be primarily rooted in Colorado, starting my trek with a drive across the deserts of the west and into the quickly changing foliage of the Rocky Mountains. There are so many colors out there in the wide-open spaces and the majesty of the mountains this time of year. The yellow of the aspens leaves me in awe but I rarely work with it. This trip may inspire me to do so!

I thought we’d take a casual Sunday stroll through what others are doing with their colors palettes these days and see if any don’t inspire you to play with something new.

A Trip Over the Rainbow

Let’s start with Liska Flower, whose work graces the start of this blog above, as I can segue from last week’s visual movement to color. Because, wow, this has so much visual movement! Remember me saying curved lines are an easy way to create a feel of movement and energy? Well, she has that here in every corner of the piece. It creates its own dense texture too but for all the busyness, it’s not overwhelming as the colors are all slightly lightened from their full saturated hue, giving the wall piece a rather easy going feeling. The heavy use of blue and the idea of looking at an ocean helps that too. The little creature poking out from the waves and ripples give focal points for your eye to rest on so you don’t get lost in the swirling texture and, aside from those design notes, the little signs of life are so cute! Cuteness should be made an official design element, I just decided.

Angela Barenholtz has a great sense of color and can get quite wild with it but always in a way that feels intentional and controlled instead of chaotic. She’s also gotten into creating “paintings” with chopped raw polymer recently, reproducing images from other artists with her own interpretation. I’m not sure if these are just color studies or practice with the techniques but I am hoping we’ll get to see original images soon too! This one is from a 1970 album cover for Derek and the Dominoes. I put the original in so you can she how far she ran with it color wise.

Irina Akulina definitely leans towards high contrast in her color choices but otherwise the whole rainbow is up for grabs in her studio. Being in Denver, I’m seeing a lot of orange and blue due to the hugely popular Broncos football team here but nothing quite so gorgeous as this combination with the slightly tinted and varied orange and the blue leaning towards teal. Taking your color a little off from the primaries and secondaries or pushing them to be a little muted (easily done with a pinch of contrasting color, black, or white mixed in) can result in such elegant combinations.

I think Laura Tabakman and I are similarly enchanted by the dark, rich colors that dominate fall. Here is a set of leaf brooches she made this past summer, perhaps in preparation for the new Into the Forest exhibit in Atlantic City New Jersey. If you are anywhere nearby while this is up, you have to go. So much great polymer work in one place! Its mind boggling.

The dramatic color choices of this recent piece by Christine K. Harris just stopped me in my tracks. I am used to seeing muted tones with drama in the use of reds but this is really striking. Blue is usually a color of calm and control but this dream inspired piece is not really either of those and yet, it works, perhaps because the blue grounds it a bit, making it more magnificent than frightening.

I find it interesting that it started, color wise, here.

So, how about you? Do you tend towards one color palette or do you change it up with the ebb and flow of trends? Are you ever just driven to recreate the colors you see out in the world or do you primarily work from packaged colors? There is no right or wrong way to choose the colors you work with but if you haven’t changed it in a while or are feeling like you’re in a rut, take a look around and let yourself be inspired by the incidental color you run into

Survey and Cash Drawing Reminder

Today is the last day to be heard and to get in on the drawing for participants of our latest Reader’s survey. If you haven’t already, would you give me just 2-3 minutes to fill out this survey? Not only does it help us help you get the information you want and need, but survey respondents will get a 15% off coupon for your entire cart on our website and a chance to win $50 cash! Who couldn’t use a few extra bucks, hmm?

Look for the 15% off code on the page that comes up after submitting the survey and write it down. Its good through the end of October. The drawing for our one $50 cash prize winner will be done tomorrow night, Monday the 30th.

Here, let me bring you along on my travels. These are a few pics from my drive yesterday–views right off the I-70 highway. Hoping I have a couple days to go see the interior between a couple weddings and family and friend visits. The color changing here is mostly yellows but there are swathes of deep red brush that are mindblowing but you have to dive farther into the mountains in for those. I have been quite a few places throughout the world but I still find Colorado to be one of the most beautiful spots on earth. Put it on your bucket list if you’ve not yet visited!

Ok, I need to go get some sleep. Road weary and dealing with the elevation gain has made me quite sleepy! I hope I caught all the typos and wonky grammar but if not, please forgive me!

I hope you’ve had a beautiful weekend and have yourself a colorful week!