16 MayPretty Palette: Gold and Grey
Color Crush: Gold and Grey
I’m in love with the simple elegance of gold and grey. Exquisite, glamorous… but down to earth. I made this Etsy treasury to reflect my current color combo crush (say that five times fast!).
Treasury tool supported by the dog house
04 AprColor Widgets
A friend found some very helpful (slightly addictive) widgets in Wolfram|Alpha this week. I thought I would share my favorite color-related ones with you.
NOTE: This page does take a while to load since there are 6 widgets to call up.
This first one is called Random Colourand delightfully provides a totally random color. Just as described, huh? I think it’s really great if you’re needing some sudden inspiration. It will also give you info about the color including some close paint shades, the nearest Pantone values, and complementing colors. Pretty useful!
Next is Complementary Colors, which of course provides a complementary color to the one you’ve chosen. You have to input the color’s actual name, but it takes really weird names like “chartreuse” and “eggshell”. It gives you a nice swatch of both colors and what they look like when mixed together. Plus it gives their RGB values. You might need to tweak the RGBs to get exactly what you want since “teal” can mean a different shade or tone to the computer than you thought.
I also like CMYK Conversion. You input a CMYK value and you receive the color swatch and tons of info about the color. The color triad is my favorite! It’s like an instant color scheme.
Next up! Get Related Colors, of course, grabs similar and complementary colors. This can be insanely helpful for providing you with more than 3 colors for a palette and it’s nice if you can’t quite find the color you’re looking for, but you’re not sure what to do to get it. The Analogous and Monochromatic sections can help you tweak that color until it’s perfect.
If you’re having trouble getting the perfect paint shade, 3 Colorsis a blessing. You can input the colors you have (using names. It’s a toss up which will work. “Olive” is fine but “forest” is not.) and it will mix them for you and show you the result. I’ll note that it works with additive color mixing, which I think is more light-based. So I scroll down to the bottom of the results and find the “color blending” result. That’s the one you’re going to get if you mix paints. And then if you want complements or to tweak the shade or something, you can pop that RGB result into one of the other widgets.
And the last color widget I’ve got for you is Crayola Color Blending! Yep, pull out your crayon box. You can predict what color you’ll make by layering two fun Crayola colors. This one’s more fun than useful for your art. But hey! Maybe you do work in crayon sometimes. I don’t know.
28 MarPretty Palette: Curious Goose
Curious Goose by Sylwia Urbaniak. Photograph.
This curious goose caught my attention for its expression, of course – but also for the beautiful colors in the image. I always find it exciting when brighter colors make an appearance in nature. In this photograph, the oranges and reds in the goose’s beak are what make the color palette extra special for me.
19 JanRenew, Refresh, and Create
How long has it been since you last gave into creative whim? Sometimes I go weeks without creating anything, maybe months without creating something with wild abandon. That’s the way it goes when you’re a working artist, or an artist who works, or both.
I’ve made it a mission to block out time for free creativity and exploration each month. The easiest way to really renew and refresh your creative spirit is to pick up a new medium. Here are some really great books in various artistic mediums that you can pick up for a $20 or less and begin pursuing a new creative direction. It will free your mind and your soul so that when you do return to your favorite medium, you enjoy amazing results.
Drawing
The Art of Urban Sketching: Drawing on Location Around the World, $17.76.
The Drawing Projects: An Exploration of the Language of Drawing, $19.77.
Painting
Acrylic Revolution: New Tricks and Techniques for Working with the World’s Most Versatile Medium, $18.47.
Brave Intuitive Painting – Let go, Be Bold, Unfold!: Techniques for Uncovering Your Own Unique Painting Style, $16.36.
Jean Haines’ Atmospheric Watercolours: Painting with Freedom, Expression and Style, $23.10.
3D Printing
Make: Ultimate Guide to 3D Printing, $9.99.
Fashion
The Art of Fashion Draping, $62.50.
A Field Guide to Fabric Design: Design, Print & Sell Your Own Fabric, $16.47.
Digital Design
Creative Workshop: 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills, $15.08.
Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop, $17.00.
Digital Alchemy: Printmaking techniques for fine art, photography, and mixed media, $32.42.
Printmaking
The Printmaking Bible: The Complete Guide to Materials and Techniques, $31.50.
Surface Treatment Workshop: Explore 45 Mixed-Media Techniques, $16.49.
Sculpture
The Art of Polymer Clay Creative Surface Effects: Techniques and Projects Featuring Transfers, Stamps, Stencils, Inks, Paints, Mediums, and More, $13.57.
Sculpting the Figure in Clay: An Artistic and Technical Journey to Understanding the Creative and Dynamic Forces in Figurative Sculpture, $21.23.
Carving the Human Face: Capturing Character and Expression in Wood, $16.47.
Photography
Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera, $17.15.
Extraordinary Everyday Photography: Awaken Your Vision to Create Stunning Images Wherever You Are, $17.15.
The Sculpting Techniques Bible: An Essential Illustrated Reference for Both Beginner and Experienced Sculptors, $10.19.
Jewelry
The Complete Jewelry Making Course: Principles, Practice and Techniques: A Beginner’s Course for Aspiring Jewelry Makers, $14.95.
The New Encyclopedia of Jewelry-Making Techniques: A Comprehensive Visual Guide to Traditional and Contemporary Techniques, $13.30.
Simple Soldering: A Beginner’s Guide to Jewelry Making, $19.77.
And there are hundreds more! Heck, grab your kid’s crayons and some copy paper if you have to! Just get to creating and you’ll feel the release of renewal.
13 DecUnique and Utterly Chic Business Card Idea
Beaded Gift Tags by Fourteen-Forty Letterpress and hushedCOMMOTION. via Design*Sponge.
I saw these gorgeous beaded gift tags on Design*Sponge yesterday and immediately thought they would make the cutest business cards! They would be great for an artist whose art doesn’t really work for a business card. Here’s a closeup:
Beaded Gift Tags by Fourteen-Forty Letterpress and hushedCOMMOTION. via Design*Sponge.
I love how many different things you could do by stitching beads onto your cards. This is labor intensive, for sure. But it would be great for special uses like sending your portfolio to a major retailer for reproduction. I wouldn’t recommend trying to make all your cards like this. It wouldn’t be a very efficient use of your time!
Don’t forget that you can purchase finished gift tags if you want some of these for the holidays!
Also check out my Pinterest board dedicated to business cards for more interesting, beautiful, and special card ideas.
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