Frazzled?

For Artwork, Books, Beads and Gifts:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/BeverlyAshGilbert

p.s. Couldn't help but share this very unflattering photo of myself after my son mussed up my hair, set my glasses on angle and took a pic - we all got the giggles!

Color Inspiration - Sunset Nuno Felt Scarf

Color Inspiration - Sunset Nuno Felt Scarf
Use Pantone's Color of the Year in new and lovely ways - here it is (4th from the right) enlivened by warm, bright colors!

More color inspiration

Color Inspiration - Hot Pink Peony

Thought you might enjoy this bright color palette!
(See what I did with it in Artful Color for Creative Projects)

Pin It!

Guitar iPhone Skins and Mouse Pad

Playing around with photos and textures... no I didn't grunge up his actual guitar!

Of course it's all on Etsy!

Color Inspiration

Color Inspiration: Paper Iris

Use Pantone's New Color of the Year: Radiant Orchid in new and lovely ways!
Here is my idea of some colors to use with it (Radiant Orchid is 6th from the right)

Pin It!

Bead Soup Collection on Etsy

A batch of Mouse Pads orders just came in and this one looked fabulous with some bead soups on my table! Bead Soup Collection - Velvet Cloak

Bead Soups on Etsy

Greeting Cards

I can't get enough of Hydrangeas!

on Etsy

Artful Color in hard cover is almost ready!

Getting ready to send my book off to my editor/publishing consultant! A hard copy of Artful Color for Creative Projects is coming soon and swirling with color!

Sale - 25% Off in my Etsy Shop!

Come join me!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/BeverlyAshGilbert

Color Inspiration for your 'Make it' gifts

I thought I would share a few color palettes to get your creative juices flowing during this holiday season. You can also see these palettes and more on my Pinterest page: Color Inspiration
Please REPIN the ones you like!

For more color Inspiration including projects that I worked up with the color palettes:
Take a peek into Artful Color for Creative Projects.

Let me know what you create (send me photos!)

PSSST: There's a Holiday Sale going on in my ETSY SHOP!

Playful Poppies

Poppies in Grass

Sunrise Through the Poppies

Poppies in Spring

Playing with color and texture in my poppy series.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/BeverlyAshGilbert

Weekend Painting

 

Painting in a sun filled room and dancing with my music! Is there anything more fun?!

Step-by-Step Color Evolution

Come take a peek at how the color evolved in this abstract painting!

I've been having fun with abstract art - admiring the way colors dance and play off of each other. And marveling in the freedom to paint over, to alter the look and feel with just small dabs of paint here and there.

I often get asked how I pull colors together and my usual answer is to simply play, then figure out what is and what isn't working! On this painting, I started with a complementary palette of red-orange and blue-green geometric swatches and thought I would share the last few steps I took to pull the colors together:

 I liked the basic colors and design, but felt that the composition was spotty - the contrast between dark red-orange and light teal too great.

So I painted over some of the red with more teal, added some dark teal accents as well as some drips of rust to help pull the teal and red-orange together.

A bit of white here and there helped draw the eye in a circle around the painting.

 I felt that the colors worked better with each other, however still too much emphasis on the dominant red-orange.

So I painted over more of the red, softened the white with a bit of rust and added drip lines of teal to better link the squares and make the geometric aspect a bit more obscure.

'Copper Age'

Converting my Book

 Sample page spread - in works

 Sample page spread - completed!

The process of converting a book from one format to another isn't for the faint of heart.

The creative part is over, the fun of watching color palettes come together is a thing of the past.
Now it is all just hard work, hours upon hours:

• Converting every photo (and there are more than 350!) from RGB color space to CMYK
• Resizing pages for print (instead of eReader style)
• Resizing fonts
• Repositioning photos and descriptions to fit into the new format and still look luscious.
• Redesign the cover to include a spine and back

But I'm almost there!
Only a handful of pages left, then off to an editor, then off to the printer!

I hope to usher in my new book with the new year

I'll keep you informed!

Don't Overlook the Small Things

Tiny pieces of red beach glass don't seem like much laying on the beach, but when piled together make a splash of color!

More Colorful with Age

Don't you LOVE this woman's hands?!


'More Colorful with Age'
Traveling across the Port Townsend ferry (in Washington state) I saw an older woman vibrant with color and creative energy. I asked her if I could take a picture of her hands which were a testament to the beauty she surrounded herself with.

The words came to me when I finally realized that the older we become, the more our true colors show through and hopefully we too are comfortable displaying them to the world!





In my new Etsy shop

Happy Halloween!

Something rather odd is going on at the vicarage in St Mary Mead tonight, so perhaps I'll drop in to visit my dear friend Dolly. Tsk human nature is so wicked, isn't it dear?
 

Feels Like Autumn

A coating of frost touched the leaves on my Japanese maple giving them a bejeweled glow in the late autumn light.

This print, and more, are in my new Etsy Shop

Color Inspiration - Guitar Pedals

This beautiful display is in the Seattle EMP Museum - while the guys were interested in the music, I was completely distracted by the light and color!

p.s. This image is available as a mouse pad (any guitarists in your life that need a shot of inspiration?)
http://www.gilbertdesigns.net/mousepads.html

Color Inspiration - Dahlia Bud

This lovely dahlia was in a pot at Ravenna Garden Center over the summer. I got in close and moved around until a delightful teal pot filled the background. I love the bit of warm gold thrown in with the cool teal and magenta - the combo makes me happy!

How do these colors make you feel?

And the Winner is...

Thank you for all of the lovely name suggestions for my latest artwork - your notes, and all of the lovely meanings you drew from my piece warm my heart!

I poured through hundreds of facebook comments, blog posts and email ideas and the decision was really tough - so many fabulous titles! Your ideas have given me so much inspiration for new pieces!

As a thank you, I am offering a 30% off discount on some of my most popular matted prints (as well as prints of my newest painting)!  Click HERE for Print Special

The title I ended up choosing brings to mind the elements that danced in my head when I painted this piece:
Music
Dance
Moonlit night
Giving and Sharing

Moonlight Serenade

(Have you listened to Carly Simon's rendition of the Glen Miller song - so lovely!)

 A number of people suggested this, so I put your name in a hat and drew...

Congratulations to

Kaye Davis

I'll be sending you a batch of greeting cards and a mouse pad!

(please email me your address!)

Naming contest...

Please pardon me while I ponder...
Wow! I am overwhelmed with so many wonderful name ideas! How is a girl to choose?!

I promise I will figure out the winning name by today... but I'm also brewing up a special deal on my website to thank all of you!

Stay tuned...

Give Away - Contest to name my painting

Contest to help me name my latest painting!

These colorful dancing ladies evolved over time and finally this weekend I realized the painting was finished. However, I can't seem to figure out the perfect name!

Any ideas?

To enter your name in the contest, simply tell me your idea below or write it on my facebook page  

Can't think of a name, no problem, you can still enter the Give Away: simply 'like' my facebook page by Monday, October 21! 

Here is the fun gift package I will send one lovely reader:

Includes:
- 6 Greeting cards featuring my original artwork (you can see all of the cards HERE)
- Mouse Pad featuring 'New Bulbs' original artwork (mouse just for show and not included!)

All of these goodies are now available on my website SHOP

Contest runs over the weekend and ends on Monday, October 21 at 5:00 PCT

Mouse Pad from Artwork

My new favorite mouse pad!
(can't keep it though - shipping out with a collection of cards).

'New Bulbs' from BeverlyAshGilbert.com

Playing with Photos and Textures

... and color of course!

Last Bouquet

An autumn bouquet from my cutting garden - not sure how many more I can gather before the frost hits

Publishing Artful Color for Creative Projects: From RGB to CMYK

Anyone who has ever published a book full of colorful photographs knows how difficult it is to replicate the bright, saturated colors in print.

I am in the process of converting all of the vibrant colors in my eBook (Artful Color) to a color language the printing presses can read, but oh so tedious as you can see above with 3 color swatch images stacked:

-Original in RGB on top
-Direct conversion to CMYK in middle
-Tweaked CMYK version on the bottom.

Luckily earthtones convert beautifully, however note how much the pinks in the middle change. Though I'll never be able to print the vibrant clear pink of the original, I'll keep working to achieve a scrumptious result.

My goal is to create a file ready to go to print by the Holidays, and to hopefully attain my eBook sales projection to enable me to get the presses rolling!

I'll keep you posted!

What happens when you mix a painting and a photograph?

 'Reflections' - Digital Art

'Reflections' - Digital Art (does it need to be lightened?)

 

'Field of Daisies' - Acrylic on canvas

Water at night - photograph

The Last of My Bead Soup Collection

Bead Soup Collection

These colorful mixes were introduced at the 2005 Bead & Button Show and since that time have been used by people all over the world in bead weaving projects, for colorful embellishments in quilts, scarfs, mixed media projects, felting designs... even as bursts of color set in bowls around the house!

They are now discontinued (very time consuming and costly to create), and the few that are left are for sale on my website

 

Greeting Cards

A batch of my Greeting Cards arrived - can't believe how well the lab recreated the colors from my artwork!

p.s. You can see the original artwork on my website: www.BeverlyAshGilbert.com

Summer Painting

A few paintings I created over the summer...

You can see all of my paintings on my website: www.BeverlyAshGilbert.com