Week 14: Longing for Spring

I'm still waiting for spring.  Craving and dying for spring.  Every day of cloudy and rainy mess is like a knife to my heart.  Shine, sun, please shine!! My rosemary plant is in full bloom outside, the brightly colored purple flowers greet me as I walk by the check the mail.  Good morning, Spring, are you there?

Daylight savings came and went, and now Spring cleaning is just around the corner.  My "Type A" personality loves to purge the unwanted and organize all the other stuff.  

Usually, it's my favorite time of year, but with everything on my plate, this annual event is turning into a huge fiasco.

I have finally started to decorate our house, after a year of living with blank walls and minimalistic furniture.  I need to make this house a home.  Our upstairs guest bathroom has been bare... completely bare.  Nothing but a hand towel and antibacterial soap.  Sick of the nothingness, I took a trip to the our local Home Goods store and stocked up on towels, a shower curtain, a floor rug, and a soap dispenser.  I hung a painting on the wall, and sat a vase full of white lilies on the windowsill.  So much better.  My downstairs guest bathroom needs a redo... with just a small window, and dark brown as the main color, I need a new color scheme to lighten up my life.  Usually when I decorate, I start with a neutral beige and white palette and add a splash of color here and there.  My living room color splash is a rusty orange, the upstairs bathroom is seafoam, and our bedroom olive green.  I'm so drawn to color... bright, pale, rich... they're all welcome.

I got me thinking about the colors that inspire the delicate loveliness of Spring.  Spring and Summer are my time for fresh cut flowers, and while grocery shopping I came across these dainty peach and yellow daisies.  This is my color palette for spring... so delicious and dainty.  Sure to inspire a calm a focused mood all summer long.  What are your spring colors, and where do you find them?

Other news...

I'm glad it was a unanimous decision to combine my two blogs.  This makes my life a whole lot easier.  I have already started the website redesign, now I have to figure out how to implement the finishing touches.  My friend, Laura, had a great post on how to create multiple pages/tabs through blogger... such perfect timing.  Time to grab my cup of coffee and start reading through her posts.  Any one have any other websites on how to customize a blogger layout?

Color Palette Blog Walk: Round 2

My awesome friend, Brandi, is hosting her second installment of the Color Palette Blog Walk and today is my day, along with Paige, Katrina, and Jenni.  We are sharing are favorite pictures and the colors, within them, that inspire us.  Fortunately, and sometimes unfortunately, everything inspires me!!  I'm a little like a puppy, distracted by the shiny object I noticed out of the corner of my eye.  My color palettes reflect this "Everything is wonderful" notion, and the different facets of my personality.

Peachy

Ahhh, the PeachHoneyLove logo painting.  My brand colors have a little pink for my girlie side, and the creams and browns for my vintage side.  Vintage girlie... sounds about right.  The subtle tones of the pinks and yellows are reminiscent of a baby's room... soft and delicate.  It reminds me to be quiet, and whisper, when my mind is screaming.  We all have those days, don't we?

Breakfast

A picture of a bowl of berries... simple, yet powerful.  It represents my sassy side, and if you ask my husband, it's the only side I have.  The colors are so rich and sexy.  It's amazing how a color can radiate confidence and power.  It makes me want to put on that sexy dress, I've been afraid to wear, and go dancing.  Do you have a color that makes you feel this way?

Kauai

Mother Earth.  This picture represents the side of me that gets down and dirty in the backyard, pulling weeds and diggin' ditches.  The terra cotta color is splattered throughout my living room, the olive green draped over my bed and windows, and the taupe hung over the shower door in the form of a bath towel. I surround myself with these earthy colors because the keep me grounded, and make me feel at home. 

If you want to check up on the past color walk bloggers, and follow the rest of us, here's the complete schedule... Enjoy!!

Classes I'm taking...

As most of you know, I am a very busy bee. On any given week I am taking two or three classes, and reading a couple books to top it off. I thrive off the inspiration of others, so I wanted to take a moment to give my current classes a spotlight.

Brandi Hussey
I'm still working my way through Brandi's Color Rockstar class. The color palettes she includes are so inspiring and force you to look at the world from a new perspective. You know that old abandoned building in your neighborhood? Pay attention to the colors that cover the rotted building... you may just find the perfect color scheme for your new brand.

Photo by mlhradio on Flickr, textured up by Brandi Hussey

Jessica Sprague
I know you have heard me talking about Jessica Sprague for some time now, but let me just remind you she is AWESOME!! If you ever wanted to know anything about digi scrapbooking/Photoshop editing, she is your girl. I have finished the Up and Running with Photoshop class and now am in the midst of Now We're Rockin'. So many techniques, so little time. I get in a groove some days and spend hours watching the class video and practicing what I have learned on some of my fav pics. I'm getting a lot done, and learning skills I can use to toward my website. So much fun!! Revisit her site!!


Monica Zuniga
I've been a fan of Monica's for a couple years now, and when I got my new computer I forgot to bookmark her in my blogger favs. One morning, I remembered her unbelievable talent and went searching for her on Google... I typed Monica, Mexico, hands, artist... there she was. Monica Zuniga, and mixed media artist for Mexico, and her blog was called Hands and Heart. Gotta love Google.
I'm taking her Mixed Media Faces class, and I was overjoyed after the first video (and there are 24 long, amazing videos). The class covers everything from face dimensions to mixed media backgrounds. Although, I have been doing some of the techniques for awhile, it's refreshing to see someone else's point of view and style. The technique may be the same, but the outcome is always unique. I haven't gotten very far in the class, but if the rest of the class is anything like this first couple videos, I will have lots to talk about. She has a lot of classes available on her ning website. Check her out!!

On Friday I will show you some sketches I've been toying around with, thanks to Miss Monica. Come back and let me know what you think..

Color Theory: Lesson 1

Lesson #1: Tint & Shade charts for every color of acrylic paint you have...

(Please note that I'm giving you a snippet of the notes I got from my Mati, and notes I jotted down during the day)

This first assignment is meant to aid in learning about color and painting in general. I was informed that the whole class is based on warms and cools so let's begin... Cool colors recede while warm colors come forward (warm colors are the ones you see first when looking at a piece of art)... the exception is lemon yellow because although it is considered a cool color it's brightness tends to dominate the page...

Tint = Color + White
Shade = Color + Black
Tinted Shade = Tint + Shade (Black)

This first assignment involves making value charts for each of the paint colors you have (see mine below as an example)... Making these different scales of gray will range from 1 to 9, where 1 will be black and 9 will be white... Then you will continue by making Otswald's hue diagram that consists of the color plus five tints make by mixing varying amount of while, five shades made by mixing in varying amounts of black, and five tinted shades of each color make by mixing varying amounts of gray...

The colors you should at least have is... (I use both Liquitex and Golden heavy body acrylics, but please note that you MUST make a value chart for each paint even if you have the same color in two different brands)

Cadmium Red Medium or pyrole red

Alizirin Crimson

Cadmium Yellow medium or Hansa Yellow Medium

Lemon Yellow

Ultramarine Blue

Prussian Blue

Here's an example of my value chart for Cad Red Medium and Alizirin Crimson... Make sure to label your color with the brand and color number shown on the tube of paint... The first column indicates your tints (color+white... the first circle should only have a very tiny amount of white), the second column your shades (tint+black... the first having a very small amount of black), the third your tinted shades (color+black... the last circle having only a small amount of color), and the very top bar should be the plain paint color with neither black, nor white added...

Yes, I know, it takes a little time, but my Mati assured me that it will help immensely throughout your entire painting career... enjoy and have fun...