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!