03 April 2013

colour lovers

Some people have just got it. The colours of their lives are tasteful, elegant, conscious decisions. I do not have it. As a family we either leave the house looking like a wet weekend or a pride of Liberace's peacocks. (Did he have peacocks? I imagine so.)

All this graphic design studying I am doing only confirms my utterly hopeless lack of colour sense. When faced with a set of electronic colour swatches (or worse, a whole spectrum wheel with sliders... run for the hills with tongue lolling and arms flapping) I get completely paralysed by choice. And then proceed to make exactly the wrong choice almost every time. Ditto in a wool shop faced with a wall of rainbow yarn.

So you can imagine what a pleasure it is to have that choice removed. I have been bought some wool to make a shawl; to be a gift from one lady to another. I guess you could call it a commission! I've never been indulgent enough to treat myself to this lovely kind of wool, and certainly wouldn't have had the good taste to choose these colours. So, without further ado; Madelinetosh I'd like to introduce you to Varjo.


Making these colour swatches of photos is quick, easy and hopefully a good way to work on my sense of colour.



A few other projects I have just finished got the colour treatment as well. Oh, and the first luridly fluorescent forced rhubarb of the season from my garden. It was crumble 30 minutes after this shot was taken (and after 45 minutes, it was history).


Where reading is concerned, I realised that as well as being a colour cretin, I am also a font fool, so I'm geeking up on this Type book. Which I adore.

If anyone has advice on choosing colours for their projects I'd certainly love to hear it. Some of you just get it right every time (looking at you Greer, Lori and Ginny!)



18 comments:

  1. Have you ever 'played' on Colourlovers (www.colourlovers.com ... I'm thethirdlittlebird) or with Kuler (https://kuler.adobe.com ... start with Create) ... they are both such fun and can really add to ones colour awareness. I often use Colourlovers when planning colour schemes for online things.

    Gorgeous yarn ... I'll be interested to see what those two colours look like knitted up together :)

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    1. I have played on those sites Annie, they're fun! But I always felt I was missing something when using them, and then I found http://design-seeds.com/ DROOL!
      As you can see, imitation is the most sincere of compliments :-)

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  2. I love your colour swatches, looks like you have something there! I don't have colour sense at all,I stick with single solids! lol

    Congrats on your commission, enjoy!

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  3. I love colour, but whether or not people think I use it tastefully is another matter ;)

    One thing that can be quite good, if you want to get colours of the same hue to compliment each other, is to take a picture of them in black and white - the colours that are similar as greys will have the same sort of hue (also good for choosing what to use for colourwork - but in that instance you'd want to choose the ones that aren't similar)

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    1. That's such a great idea! I'll certainly give this a go in future, thanks Natalie!

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  4. I think your color swatches are a super idea, I love it.
    I don't have an eye for color either and usually just hope for the best.
    Great news about your commission and I know you'll enjoy every minute of knitting with that beautiful yarn.

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  5. Well - I was reading Crochet magazine last night and came across this site
    http://winkieflash.nl/
    The very dab.
    But really - looking at this and your other posts - you have a wonderful sense of colour. We all go out like peacocks here - it is the main clothes shop in town. xxx

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    1. And also - what a really lovely thing you said on Lori's blog. Thank you xx

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  6. I love Veera's designs and you picked the perfect pattern for that gorgeous yummy yarn!!

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  7. Hello fellow graphic designer! Love the color swatches. And I'm a type geek too :) Found you through Ginny.

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    1. Ooh nobody ever called me that before! Feels good though.

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  8. Thanks for the comments - I'm glad someone appreciates the bagpipes! Actually my dad is thrilled I'm learning. The baby tries to play the tupperware when I'm practicing and the big kid uses it as an excuse to get some video game time. I've been meaning to do another silly photo shoot with both of the kiddos - where does the time go? I was working on a project in InDesign when you wrote to, small world!

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  9. I really like all your photographs and color choices. I think that yarn will make a gorgeous shawl--those are my colors.

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  10. I think that you have a terrific sense of color! It shines through in your photographs. Love the colors that you picked for the Earth and Sky shawl. The color swatches are a cool idea. If I come across a unique color combination while on the Internet, I like to bookmark the page in a color inspiration folder. Also, you can never go wrong with colors inspired by nature, like the brilliant pink and yellow of that rhubarb!

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  11. I love the way you took the colors from the photos......really shows your amazing sense of color!! (You DO have it, you know!)

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  12. Color choice is so tough for me too. I think I have it figured out and then my finished object disappoints. What fun to work on the commission.

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  13. love love loving that last photo and the colors in it. beeeaauuutiful!

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  14. Your color sense is fab. Your kitchen is my first example. :)

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