I’m always interested in how people come up with the color combinations they use in their work. In recent years most of mine have been inspired by paintings or collages. I was introduced to this approach a number of years ago in workshops taught by Lindly Haunani, Maggie Maggio, and Sarah Shriver.
Choosing color combinations this way has made a huge difference in my work by giving me the confidence to explore combinations far outside of my previous comfort zone.
This approach has awakened me to an entire universe of gorgeous color combinations I had never considered before. Now when I start a project I nearly always pick a combination I haven’t explored before, and usually one that surprises me. I’m teaching this approach to my own students now. We all thank you Lindly, Maggie and Sarah.
In addition, I began noticing that colors I had avoided in the past and thought I didn’t like (bright yellow and red, for example) could be be beautiful when combined with certain other colors. Now I would be hard pressed to name a color I don’t like.The collage at the top of this post served as the color inspiration for the first cane in which I intentionally used colors outside of my “color comfort zone.” I used my kaleidoscoping method to produce a series of one-of-a-kind pendants from the cane, some of them are shown here.Five Pendants from my “Farewell to Spring” Series
