Paint Chip Inspiration

If you ever need a quick muse, go straight to your nearest paint or home improvement store and peruse the paint chips. With endless hues offering such descriptive names like Rocky Slope, Deep Cavern, Lightening, Painted Desert, and Monarch Wing, you can find yourself inspired by nature while standing in the middle of the paint aisle.



A random handful of paint chips can

get the imagination flowing. Try con-

necting a bunch of paint color names

in stream-of-thought story or poem:

I was beachcombing upon our Mother

Earth during the solstice. I noticed a

shimmering seashell and at the same

moment I saw lightening out across

the ocean deep. I ran toward the

seashell just inside the mouth of a

deep cavern, protected now from a

thunderous downpour. I watched my

seashell, as it lay on the sand, alight

into a calcite butterfly with each

pulse of lightening.

Pick a few paint chips that grab you and use those to write a few lines of poetry, or a detailed setting for a fictional piece, write a song, or use them to inspire your next painting or altered art piece. Recently we used paint chips during our Photo Safari creativity workshop by randomly chosing a paint chip color and then matching that color to something found in nature.

You can reverse these prompts by blending your own colors, creating a nice palette on your paper then coming up with descriptive “paint chip” names of your own.

Nature and inspiration are all around you!

See how we used paint chips to inspire creative play with your family.

 

 

The paint chip color "Cottontail" was the muse for this

little acrylic/pen & ink ATC.

Creativity Break: Crayon Naming

“An enterprising child set up a table at the park, selling crayons for a nickel. I gave her a dollar for Tickle Me Pink.” @WordWhispers

Let your creative nature come out and play, assign a new name for at least 8 of the color crayons you see in the image below. What story, memory or "fantastical" world will your crayon names leap from within your imagination? Alternative: pick 2-3 colors and create a name for each shade of purple or green, or blue, etc. Please feel free to share your names :)

Image: dreamstime.com

Nature's Palette: Lavender Fields

In a previous post, I talked about the inspiration that could be found at your local harvest festivals, like lavender festivals, cherry festivals, etc. My family and I just spent the weekend at a nearby lavender festival and had a great time! These are fun for the whole family and events like these are a fanstastic source of inspiration for all the senses! While there, all I wanted to do was sketch or try my hand at a little painting or pastels like these artists...

I kept thinking of how fun it would be to set up a mini-easel for my son and let him go with finger paints and brushes and just see what we might create--perhaps something lavender-y, perhaps he would paint his famous monkeys :) We did manage to collect some flowers and make our own "magic petal potions!"

How will this nature palette inspire you today?

For ocean-inspired nature palettes, click the links below:

Ocean <--click

Seashells <--click

 

Lavender Festival

The site of lavender fields, lavender flowers, the smell lavender can inspire many creative outlets: drawing, cooking, gardening, photography, writing, painting—I’ve read lavender oil is a great oil painting medium!

Here’s a fun way to spend Father’s Day, and/or feed your creative mojo--the 123 Farm’s 6th Annual Lavender Festival this June 12,13,19 & 20, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. If you’re interested, please visit their website for details, directions to their Cherry Valley, CA location, festival activities, schedule, and organic herbs and oils for sale (including lavender, peppermint, rosemary, and sage!).

Lavender farms can be found throughout the region, check your local area for any local harvests, find out what's available in your area. Don't worry if lavender is not a likely harvest--now's a great time to learn about the organic goodies in your region to discover a local farm that celebrates the harvest publicly for natural inspiration!

Mmm...what inspires you most about lavender? Scent, sight, taste, touch...?

About the 123 Farm: http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M14941

Nature's Palette: Box Canyon Geology

This week’s nature palette is created with a glimpse into our past. Our geologic past. Not only does this slab from the Pleistocene show the immense buckling and pressure you can find in our local Box Canyon area of the Mecca Hills, CA, it inspires a soothing palette with a splash of blue that has an intensity that matches its ancient creation! [click image to enlarge]
 

Like another palette? Be sure to see this beautiful photo contributed by Laura Huff, found via TwitPic in 140 characters or less @thenaturecoach - Inspiration from the graceful sea, check out today's nature's palette! How will you be inspired? http://twitpic.com/1h4t4x

Nature's Palette

At the site Big Huge Labs, you can upload your favorite photo and run it through their online Color Palette Generator to auto-create a palette. It’s a great tool for artists, designers, and do-it-yourselfers to play around with for color inspiration. The possibilities are endless!

I will post nature inspired palettes to add to your (mental) creativity toolbox. In this example, there was a beautiful variety of oranges and some yellows, I edited the palette down to accommodate the pops of color in the palette as well (to fall within my 12-color template). Upload your favorite nature photo for a palette designed by Mother Nature herself...

Please feel free to share your work inspired by these posted nature palettes, or of your own images-turned-palettes (nature related)!