Ahhh Color

Color is perhaps one of my favorite tools to use when creating.  Often, I will have people say that they are uncomfortable with working with color.  So let's see how to handle the topic of color in our Art Journal.

For color inspiration, I look at things around me.  The row of yarn in a store, or a box of tapers.  Nature is a wonderful source of inspiration, or most magazines will have great for color combinations. Some of my favorite periodical sources are Coldwater Creek Catalogs, Country Living, and Better Homes and Gardens.   Someone has already taken the journey to put together the photographs and color  combinations, so now, you cut it out and paste it in your journal.  

Now you are ready to find the materials that work with your color combination.  Take your journal into a store or rummage through your stash; using the photographs you selected, pick out beads, ink, paper, yarn, ribbon, or paint to match the colors you see.  It is OK to put a small swatch of paper, a splotch of ink or paint in your journal along with the photo. Don't forget to add the bits of ribbon and yarn you find too.  Now, when you are looking for color ideas, pull out your journal and see what you have collected.


Another idea.  Go to your local paint shop and pull out one of their swatch brochures.  They will have lots of paint color combinations for you to look at.  Hey, color is color, and ideas are all around us.  Once you release the ties that keep you from freely exploring color, then you will find color inspiration all around you.

The Emotion of Color.  Yes, I did write the emotion of color.  Color, for years, has been used to calm, warm, and invigorate.  So, let's think about our own emotional reactions to color.   I say Puce and you say?  Most of us have favorite colors, and many of us have colors that we say "YUCK" to.  Tap those emotional reactions.  Believe it or not, we use color emotion all the time, but are usually unaware of doing so.  Next time you are flipping through the latest copy of Country Living, take a moment to think about why this photograph is appealing to you and that one isn't.  Listen for your inner emotion to the color combinations.

OK, now that you are identifying those combinations that "work for you"  Let us take this another step.  WORKING OUTSIDE YOUR COMFORT ZONE. 

Well maybe that would be a good topic to explore next time.