Friday, January 27, 2012

Inspiration: A Rainbow of Colors

I admit it.  
I'm a gray/denim/black/khaki kind of person.   My own  cousin once asked me why everything I wore was in such boring colors.  That was about 30 years ago.  I was so shocked by the observation, I changed my entire wardrobe to light blue!   But after that wore off, I went back to  gray/denim/black/khaki colors.   When I want to put on something bright and cheerful, I typically reach for a white top.  Yep.   That's about the extent of my wild wardrobe.


But don't think for a minute that I don't like color.  I LOVE color!   I love it in nature. I love it in art.  I love it in my rooms.  I love it in scarves and jewelry!   


To some extent, in jewelry-making (as in the world all around us), the holidays guide our color choices.   With the winter holidays, we just finished a period with lots of green and red...with some blue, white, and silver tossed in.   Now, with Valentine's Day upon us, we see more red and pink, and a bit of purple.   


But I've been craving other colors of late, so I've decided to give in to that craving and do some items that are a bit unseasonable, yet fun for anytime...something to bring cheer to gray winter months and gray winter wardrobes!


Here are a few of the more colorful pieces I've created lately...my ode to color in the midst of dreary days!



This pendant has a cascade of colorful gemstones 
extending from the ceramic focal bead...
and lots of lovely copper.

Copper Red and Rainbow Pendant 

Valentines Special: Normally $20--Now $17 USD




Still red, but somehow more "full of color" 
because of the whitewash on the red beads
 and those perfectly-made artisan jumprings I love using!

Cherries and Whipped Cream Earrings

 Valentines Special: Normally $19--Now $16 USD


They are not a complete "matchy-matchy" set, as we sometimes say, but these earrings and the pendant above do have the same type of focal bead and genuine bright copper components. I think they would team up nicely!



I may have shown these to you before;
 I know I posted on Facebook last week.
Truly a rainbow of colors--color in the 2 types of beads,
color in the wire, color in the linking jumprings.
Attached to Sterling Silver earwires.




These use a pair of enameled head pins from "Sue Beads."
The earrings also include more colorful bead rondelles, 
genuine copper wire and earwires.
(This pair will soon be listed in my ArtFire Studio!)

* * *

Now, I admit it. I'm wondering:
1) What colors you are craving these days?   
  
2) Do you find that many of your works are a certain color?  Is that because the color is a favorite color of your own or for some other reason?

3) What is your least favorite color to design with?

Please share your comments with us all!

Thanks!  Hope you have a happy, rainbow-kind of day!

--Sharyl

P.S. I attempted to give my own answers to the questions above using colored fonts.  (But I can't seem to get the color "aqua" for question 2, so it looks like a grayish-teal it will be!) 

P.P.S. Opening my closet, I do see a bit more aqua, violet, and other colors than I remembered there!  Maybe I'm just "boring" with the colors in the winter!  :-)


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Graphic Credits: 




5 comments:

Mary C said...

I like your colorful designs!! Hope you sell them ALL!

I've always loved purple! Our living room is lavender with a purple ceiling! Since I'm not positive it goes with the new furniture hubby may be painting soon. I don't like white walls so we'll go with something darker but what I don't know yet.
For clothing, I usually wear black or brown pants. Today, a purple shirt, surprise surprise.
My least favorite color to design with is probably yellow. I use gold in some of my creations but usually not bright yellow beads.

Sharyl said...

I'm so glad you wrote with your color preferences! Would love to see your purple livingroom! My sister-in-law once said to me that my favorite color must be blue. I really couldn't figure that out. But she said, look at the rooms in your house! Nearly all are decorated with some shade of blue! Hmmm... guess I like blue after all. (They are not all STILL blue, btw!)

Then comes car color. My first one was pale blue. (Ring a bell with the clothes situation? Same era.) Next, I had a PURPLE Geo (sort of an eggplant color) for 15+ years). I've finally moved on to "Alien green." It's very similar to the background on this page. All favorites! :-)

Anonymous said...

Nice designs, Sharyl! My favorite colors to design with are greens and blues (especially turquoise and aqua). My least favorite is yellow. For my wardrobe, I wear a ton of red, coral, gray and black. For the home, I am pretty boring - beige and tan walls. I use color for accents.

Sharyl said...

We almost sound like identical twins! In another month, you'll see my studio filled with aqua and turquoise. I just can't resist that color! I keep trying to like yellow, but struggle with that and brown. Like your clothes colors, but I don't do red myself because I already have those Irish red "rosy" cheeks and wearing red just blinds people! White walls here for the most part too. I like to change things a lot and white makes it easy to do that! Thanks for sharing!

Czjai said...

Everything here is absolutely lovely!

Purple is my favorite color, so most of my stuff are either purple, lavender, or aubergine.

Green would be my least favorite color. I own just 2 green shirts, and the only reason why I have them is because they came from my Mum. She loves anything green, haha!