Saturday, April 10, 2010

colours

A challenge - & then some, C & C's latest assignment! Colour, pick a colour, any colour! Oh my... How a challenge can lead to mayhem!

You see, in a previous chunk of life, longer gone than I care to remember, I was an alternative gothic type of dresser - we're talking high school days, here. And fast forward, bird's eye perspective, I've avoided colour for the longest time! I still feel most mousy comfortable in my black & grey ensembles...

That said, I've been introducing colour back into my life over the past few years. Starting with old favourites; from lightest egg shell blue to darkest deepest mossy green. I love it in nature; blue skies, spring green and the serious green of ivy...
... and I'm learning to love it again as a colour to wear - which is huge, for two-toned me! And of course, I love it in my baby's eyes!
So far, so good. No mayhem as such. Yet.
Obliviously, I set out to document complementing colours. Funnily enough, I actually knew that blue goes with orange. There is a television ad running here at the moment - I don't remember what they're trying to sell again (so much for advertising bucks well spent), but they're pouring light blue and orange paint over someone's back, and when I first saw that, I was in awe! I thought it was so beautiful! Now to find that combination in nature... Another challenge! Till I thought of carrots. And it only got better when I accidentally stumbled on an orange stain on a sidewalk nearby! I have no idea how it got there - I'm considering it a serendipitous coincidence! All I had to do was get a smurf & grab my camera!
*If you're graced with a vivid imagination, and a little wicked, you might think that the baby smurf ate a few too many carrots. That's not what happened. I promise. But I can see where you're coming from ;)*
Anyway! Here it is - my complementing diptych:
And that's when it happened. The bright orange... It made me look around. I knew I had become more sensitive to colour lately, all because of Shannon and her inspiring e-course. But what I hadn't realised - was how much of a colour junky I had actually become... I have not one, not two, but three more serious colour mosaics to share. I've been so absorbed in noticing colour around me over the past week, that I really didn't know when to stop...

But now, only just now, while typing this, I have decided to post those later. Just to show you I actually do have some restraint :) Which makes it seem like this post stops in the middle. And it does. But I have concerns. About overkill. And sensitive eyes. And breaking rules. All Carolyn of C&C asked for, was a colour. One colour... And I've been stretching that to a scala, already. I can live with that, I can! But I'll leave the rest of the rainbow till later :)
Concluding this post with a square close-up of the gorgeous felted necklace made by Shannon, I'll leave my coloured cloud to check out what everyone else has done! And I'll be sure to come back and post the rest, some time soon - I just know you're holding your breath ;)

26 comments:

  1. Mijn moeder draagt en leeft met de kleuren zwart, wit en grijs.
    Mooie foto's!!!
    Is dit de ketting die in Neverland was geland?
    Ze schreef me dat ze een ketting naar Nederland had gestuurd, maar die was nooit aangekomen. Ik verwacht nog steeds een kaart van haar ;)
    Deze kleur staat je goed!

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  2. you really stretched yourself for this, and the resulting photos are really great! i really like that you added a bit of yourself and your sense of humor -- LOVE the shadow shot in the first grid. and the smurf shot is priceless.

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  3. Wat mooi om te lezen dat je deze week kleuren hebt geleefd, geademd en beleefd. Prachtige ketting en die ogen van je kleintje, wouw. Ik ben benieuwd naar je andere kleuren en houd je blog de komende dagen zeker in de gaten.
    Geniet van het heerlijke weer.

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  4. These are beautiful images and I love the mosaics. That is a great idea.

    Annie

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  5. Those are totally beautiful. And...the smurf, how funny, I actually think I would have come to the conclusion that you did that he ate too many carrots. Your baby's eyes are beautiful...as are yours...and all the blues are gorgeous...and the greens...and...

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  6. Wow! That orange! Love it.

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  7. Very beautiful colors,
    Interesting Ideas: )

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  8. What beautiful pictures, the colours are perfect. I am a grey and black girl too!

    http://leafgreenknits.wordpress.com/

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  9. Echt gaaf je foto's! Pierre, naast mij: "Le schtroumph a dégueulé?" (kan er ook nix aan doen dat smurf in t Frans zo'n rotwoord is .. ;-)). Mail volgt later hoor, écht! Nu ff surfen. Groet!

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  10. These are great. The blue series in my favorite, but brainy smurf is pretty funny! Lively job.

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  11. what a blast-- no "muddling" here. The orange is hysterical. The eyes, both sets (even though I see only one of yours), dreamy. I really enjoyed them all.

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  12. ha h ha ha haha on your diptych. how fun to witness someone discovering their love for color. color overkill can be awful though. i'm glad you knew to stop there for now!! however rainbows are one of the most awe inspiring sights i know of. i'm all about your green collage. the serious green of ivy. and your shadow photo. and of course the blue eyes are dreamy like carolyn said. and so clear! you lucky girls.

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  13. Fantastastic!!! I want moremoremore!! I loved reading about your travels from the absence of color to that smurf/orange diptych. Your writing and imagery complement each other so well!

    Your grids are great and the images are wonderful! I love the shadow one in the top grid, and the perspective and cropping of the upper left jeans shot in the blue grid is really nice. The eyes shots are fabulous and so expressive!

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  14. oh...a lovely story of color. and yes...the collages are wonderful

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  15. A fantastic play of colors and objects! So many fun things to look at. Yes, the eyes are a winner.

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  16. love your words as much as your photographs. i'm also fairly monochromatic in terms of dress with touches of blue and green but NEVER the red family. i love your introduction of orange (and humor) into the mix.
    Can't wait to see more.

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  17. I love your second blue mosaic. Thoses eyes! Beautiful. And I love your dippy, great sense of humour with that one. You really excelled this week!

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  18. Your images are so clean, vibrant and full of life. I absolutely love the tree shadow...clever.
    Get a feeling of growth and freshness in your story.(Beautiful felt)
    Most excellent little smurf incident...how can he look so cute after too many carotts.
    I love your "eye" & style Yvonne, inspiring imagery.

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  19. You pictures are great! I love your collages, they are all so amazing together. Some of my favs are the tree person picture in the first one, and of course your babe's blue eyes are magical AND stunning, the smurf is hilarious, and your gorgeous felted necklace. Wonderful shots...all of them!

    :)Lisa

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  20. oh my gosh that smurf picture - too funny!
    your collages are beautiful. such gorgeous blues and great light. those big blue eyes!

    and i love the shadowy green picture. very creative!

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  21. Great shots! I love the first mosaic...beautiful. And would you believe I have the same exact turquoise earrings?! I wear them a lot...they go with everything. I'm the same as you...denim, khaki, black, white, grey and brown. The earrings add a splash of color now and then! That shot of the felted wool is amazing..

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  22. The composition in turquoise is exquisite. Great choice of hues.

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  23. Oh, those are beautiful!! Funny, I was the same way. Went through a black, black and more black phase for many years. These last few years I feel just awash with colors. Can't get enough of them!

    I'm looking forward to getting this photo assignment done. Got behind this week.

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  24. Thank you for all the comments :) I loved this assignment more than I thought I would when I read it ;)

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  25. Yvonne, once again the photos are great. I esp like the smurf one. what a great idea!! I really liked the green shadow on the ground. very nice. keep it up!!

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  26. The collages again are stunning!!! I love these colors and the green and blue yarn image is so wonderful. Also, that smurf and the paint splatter is hilarious!

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Thanks for letting me in on your thoughts!