Merry Christmas

To all my lovely friends, both near and far - I wish you a very Merry Christmas filled with your favorite people, delicious food and lovely music!

Take Time to Watch the Sun Set

A spot of sunlight on the shortest day of the year
From my Digital Art Gallery

Ballroom Dancer

A small framed painting on the wall at Flying Apron (Redmond, WA)
See it on Etsy

Artwork Display at Overlake Senior Center

Changing out artwork as they sell
Love how Overlake Senior Center grouped my paintings... Hate to break them up

Things I Love

'Fuzz Therapy' - the ability of a pet to make you feel better
Cinnamon toast (even if it is gluten free!)
The USPS delivery girl who always smiles and waves

How to Use the Colors of the Year

Tangerine Tango? Radiant Orchid? Marsala?

(here are the #1 colors of the last 3 years used together)

#ColoroftheYear

Colors come and colors go - the color industry declaring what is hot right now and the fashion, home decor, beauty product industries scrambling to keep up by issuing new clothing, new jewelry, new paint, new pillows and towels, nail polish... This is of course designed to keep us buying!

But how do we keep up? What if we really love the colors from 2 years ago? What if our wardrobe is filled with last years 'Radiant Orchid' (2013), our dining room painted with a bright red wall from oh sometime in the early 2000s, our living room brightened up with accents of 'Tangerine Tango' (2012). How does the new 'Marsala' (2015) fit in?

My #1 Mantra: Define your color palette, the one that makes you feel happy, comfortable, energized, the colors that make you light up from within. Surround yourself with 'Your Colors', stick with them whether they are 'in' or not. Then - only after you feel good - for a bit of fun, throw in accents of the Color du Jour.

But, you ask, what if the Color of the Year doesn't go with my color palette?

This is the fun part!

My #2 Mantra: All colors (can) go together! Yup - even if they are very far apart and look off when viewed side by side by their selves. The key is what you put with them!

I go into a lot more depth in my eBooks: Artful Color for Creative Projects and Dip Into ColorDip Into Color - but here is the heart of pulling colors together - add transition colors, the ones that guide your eye from one color to the next and voila! they all look good together!

Have fun pulling colors together and adding accents of the Color of the Year to your palette!

Beadweaving Retreat on Whidbey Island

Give the ultimate creative gift to someone you love!   
Do you know someone who would cherish 4 days of creativity?

Gift certificates for Beads and Color Retreat available

 

BEADS and COLOR RETREAT 

February 5-8, 2015

Join us for a beading retreat on beautiful Whidbey Island! Held in my sun-filled studio, you will be surrounded by beads, color, natural light and creative people and pampered with individual instruction, delicious food and wine!

Classes include:

 Beads on Metal, Thursday February 5 

 Wander with Flair, Friday February 6

Wander with Color, Saturday and Sunday February 7-8

Registration is now open for individual days within the retreat. Discounts are available for those wishing to attend all 4 days. Bonus! grab 3 friends and enjoy a 10% discount when all 4 of you sign up together!

Get your creative juices flowing and join us for the entire retreat, or just a day, and find out why attendees come back again and again from all over the world!

Moon Dancer

A gal who collects tall figures approached me to make a metal print of one of my Moon Dance ladies... here is her Moon Dancer - she will be 10" wide x 30" tall

Etsy Sale - Last Day

Last day of my Etsy sale and your chance to win 1 hour of Free Color Consultation!

Everything in my shop is on sale including original artwork and my books on color (don't forget to enter in the code 20Holiday2014)

Color Inspiration - Barberry New Growth

Pantone's 2015 Color of the Year - Marsala graces this cool earthone color palette
Color wheel from Eye For Color

Color Inspiration - Mustard Plant

Color Inspiration with 2015 Color of the Year - Marsala (4th from left)

This little Mustard plant self seeded itself next to some bright green Euphorbia in my garden last spring.

Color of the Year - Marsala

Looking at how Pantone's new color of the year works into a Purple and Gold color palette!

Color palette from a few days ago - with added 'Marsala'

Color Inspiration - Lavender Glass

A small section of one of my paintings - the colors inspired by old lavender bottles on my window sill - I love the touches of rust on the glass and wonder where the bottles were before they came into my possession.

Where do you get your Color Inspiration?

Etsy Sale

All of my Nuno Felt scarves have found new homes this week - from Australia to Paris, from Maine to Washington.

Guess I had better get back in my studio!

Sale is still on in my Etsy shop

Color Inspiration - Swirling Snow

Swirling Snow
Actually swirling camera as the snow fell on our garden arch that my son covered with twinkling lights