Color Ideas

I must admit that color/tones/hues are somewhat of a challenge to me.  I need help to come up with a color scheme that 'works'.  Recently, on a trip to the home improvement shop, I stopped by the paint section.  I often collect their individual color chips for inspiration, but this time I picked up several of the brochures. 

  The theme was shown on the front of the brochure.  Inside each brochure the rooms were painted using a series of colors/hues/tones that enhanced each other.

I couldn't help but be  'wowed' by the brochure that had yummy chocolate truffles as the cover picture.  Now what could be better than using my favorite treat as the base and seeing what works with it - yum!

"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts." - Marcus Aurelius

What next?

 I have to wonder about the business that goes on inside my head.  The thoughts and ideas roam around up there willy-nilly.  Sometimes they make perfect sense and I feel as if I'm guided. Sometimes they make only some sense and send me down another road.  I envy those who find their voice early on and follow it with a devotion to the art they have chosen.

I do know myself quite well however.  You know how sometimes your throat feels scratchy and you just know you're coming down with something?  How you almost foresee a fall, immediately before tripping on the pavement?  That is how it is for me with my creativity.

Recently, as I worked on a house-to-be, it came over me - is it a shadow or is it a window opening?  I'm not quite sure.  But I knew that this house that I was stitching was not to be, at least at this time.  That I needed to break out of house building and move on to something else.  Could it be that when it comes to the work of my hands I'm just naturally capricious?

"We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us." - Joseph Campbell

Absence vs. Fulfillment

Walking into my studio one morning recently -- looking at the most tidy of work tables.  Everything was 'put away', everything was neat.

A feeling of the blah's came over me.  Instead of being happy with this neat and tidy area I felt like something was missing.  It was not a feeling of satisfaction about having cleaned up a mess but a feeling that I most definitely needed to make a 'new' mess.

And so I proceeded to do just that.  I put 'stuff' here and there, I played with colors and images and thoughts of what I wanted to do next.  I made a joyful mess.

The next time you chastise yourself about not being 'tidy' or 'organized', pat yourself on the back and let your imagination take over. Each piece to be 'put away' may inspire you to start something new.  It worked for me...

"The happiness of  a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions." - Alfred Lord Tennyson

A Walk in the Garden

No day is complete without a walk through the garden. At least during this part of the year.

Each day brings something new and special and definitely colorful.

Some, like the Flame Azaleas, look like a bit of sunshine.

Others, like these purple and white Irises are bits of velvet standing tall against the rocks.

"Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it." - Rumi

A Spindle/Bobbin Tribute

Most of us, being stitchers, value fabric and thread.  Textiles have been an historic tradition, throughout the world.  Most of what we, here in the United States, work on today came across the oceans from far away lands.

So this little spindle/bobbin is my tribute not only to the early textile workers, wherein almost everything was done by hand - but to the men and women who continue to work the needle, thread and fabric in all its forms of craft.  Thank you!

"A gentle heart is tied with an easy thread." - George Herbert