Monday, February 22, 2010

Finding a Color Palette

One of the parts of the process that is sometimes the most troubling is finding a pleasing color combination.  In a workshop I took from Carol Simmons, she had a neat trick for dealing with that problem.  She had cut out pictures from magazines that had a multitude of beautiful and pleasing colors.  These pictures - they could be anyting - ads, clothing, home decorating - provide the inspiration for a wide range of color palettes and can jump start your creative process. 

Recently, for one of my projects, I searched on line for desert colors.  I found this set of pictures with the perfect colors.  I pulled from my clay stash to find similar colors.  You can see the straight out of the package colors here.  I plan to custom mix these colors to get closer in tone and saturation to my inspiration piece.  I've started my collection of scrap images to keep me inspired for years.  I also have collected paint samples from the paint section of the major home improvement stores.  When I need a bit of a push, I can take these helpful collections out, browse to my heart's content, match up against my other elements such as beads and findings and put together a wonderful palette to work from.

1 comment:

  1. What wonderful colors to start your inspiration piece. I, too, have been bitten by the custom color bug. I took a workshop last fall with Lindly Haunani and was instantly hooked. Carol and Lindly's use of magazine images as a starting point for color inspiration is right on the mark. Once you get a feel for color mixing, the sky is the limit!

    I look forward to seeing what you create with these colors.

    -Amy

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