Thursday, April 3, 2014

Life is a colour wheel...

This will be the last blog post in my recent series on colour so I thought I'd close with more ideas on how/when colour inspires me, and perhaps help you to see your own 'life' as a colour wheel you too can be inspired by.

You see, the idea for this series of 'colour week' blog posts actually began on the crazy hat day with Blossom. We'd been wandering through the Freedom Furniture store looking for a decorative white ladder/shelf unit I could display in my creative space. But you know, once I open the doors on that shop I don't come out for quite a while. The colours take hold of my attention and I just 'dream' designs at every turn.

Here's the pics I brought home on my phone that day, the ones that made me want to play more with colour, so how about daydreaming along with me?

Do you imagine a seaside holiday cabin with striped deckchairs out on the verandah, and glasses of chilled pineapple juiced spiked with fresh mint...


Flower Market stalls from an English Country Garden?


The kitchen of an ocean fronted holiday house, grains of sand catching under our feet as we cut thick slices of ciabatta for the olive oil drenched bruschetta we're making for lunch...


You're invited to our Christmas Day lunch; a casual affair on the back deck, alive with all these luscious summer colours reflected in the dessert platters of mango, strawberries, avocados, red grapes, cherries, peaches and nectarines...


Each one of the photos above inspired me to create in my mind a scene I'd like to live out - different scenes for different seasons that rolled creatively into new design ideas; all based on that initial emotional response I had to the colours on display in a local furniture store. When you stop and let your mind wander in front of displays like those above, you may surprise yourself with the emotions they can stir.

Now, what if we bring together a variety of fabric and thread colours from our stash? Will they all meld together or can we look through them and create narrower palettes?
To highlight this point I'm using vibrant pink, blue, green and orange - on a grey base.


 All together these four are pretty wild - the pastel grey base enhances the vibrancy of each colour allowing the four 'as a whole' to pop.
Take two fabrics away and focus on the remaining two. Even when you keep the four threads in the picture the balance changes - less choir and more of a duet. The blue and orange appear more prominent, and the green and pink become mere accents. The wildness is tamed...


Switch fabrics and the pink and green become the main players with the orange and blue as supporting actors. Now I see a little wildness return, but it's not as overwhelming as when the four colours are together...


Sometimes it's nice to let one intense colour be the solo 'star' by making it centre stage. You would choose the 'less is more' option for some complimentary colours...



My little journey through colour this past week or so has been educational to the way I put together my fabrics and my threads. I'm taking notice of the life scenery before me each day, no matter where I am - in a furniture store, picking fresh produce from the farmer's market, watching the rain fall upon my tropical garden, standing in front of my fabric shelves, or playing with my new pencils.
I hope you've been inspired to look closer at the colours in your world too. 


Have a wonderfully colourful day, won't you?! 
I'm going to sit back now and enjoy a coffee and some fresh raspberries with my yoghurt and granola...just look at those raspberries...the colour...



hugs,

 

13 comments:

Sherri said...

That was very helpful as I have a hard time choosing colors or even more so, changing colors on a graph. I probably would've come home with a beautifult tablescape from that store. Loved the tableware!

Cheryll said...

Oh YuMMmmmmm ! :)

By Neymes said...

ALIMENTO PARA ALMA,OLHOS E ESTOMAGO,PARABÉNS POR LINAS IMAGENS AMIGA.BEIJO.

Melody said...

Another lovely post

Sharon said...

But Jenny will you ever dare to use those beautiful pencils or will you forever more use them as your 'go to' ready colour palette... I love prisma pencils too!!!!

Larissa said...

Beautiful explanation of your thought-process Jenny!!

Thoeria said...

Bright...sunshiney....vibrant colours! Love them!

Jenny of Elefantz said...

I've actually taken them out and had a play already, Sharon...and what fun! :-)

Stitched With Prayer said...

Hi Sweet Friend...I was glancing at some of the comments because I wanted to ask you what pencils you recommend, then I noticed the Prism that you talk about. Don't know if I can get them around here I'll have to do some checking around, but if not, what would your next choice be??? Big Hugs comin your way...

Lin said...

Thank you Jenny. xx

Victoria said...

Hi Jenny! Lovely photographs, lovely words. You know how to communicate what the French call the "joi de vivre" the joy of living. Thank you very much!!

Jenny of Elefantz said...

What a lovely compliment, Victoria - thank you! xx

Anonymous said...

What fun inspirations! Thanks for the peek inside your motivations.