New Color Theme Journal: Some Starry Night

I never think a whole lot about color when I'm making a journal. I just start splashing paint on my pages. Once all my pages are painted, I start cutting out strips of paper from magazines in whatever catches my eye. A pretty gown might become a border. Or an island view. Or somebody's eyes. I can't even explain how I know where each border piece goes. It either feels right or it doesn't. I try not to overthink things, and I try to work fast. Usually, my pages end up with an unintended color scheme, something that just happens naturally.

For my next journal, I decided to intentionally choose a color scheme and see what happens. I'm inspired by Natty Malik's Technicolor Thursdays. Each Thursday she posts a color scheme and a journal page down in those colors. She invites her readers to send images of their own work in the color story. I already knew I wanted to work in shades of blue with a pop of yellow, so when I found this color palette on Colourlovers, I knew it was the one:

Color by COLOURlovers

I already had two magazines earmarked for the project, both of which have yellow and blue on the covers. I have two homemade paint sprays: one in yellow, the other a glimmer spray in an ocean-y blue. I thought black gesso would be interesting, since I never use gesso in journals, and the piece of sequin waste and an old credit card to go with it. I have Bombay ink in teal and a dip pen, which should be interesting, again, because I've never really used either. I also found Sharpies in blue and yellow.

When you make art, do you set a color scheme before you start and let one develop organically? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Etsy Tips & Tricks #2: Shades of Color

I've been showing up in a lot of treasuries lately, and I've decided that the reason why is that I've recently discovery something cool on Wikipedia that I call Shades of Color. The entry includes different shades and color names in each color.  So, now, instead of just putting "blue" I try to find a more accurate color name, like "cerulean," "teal," powder blue," or whatever. Having accurate colors in my tags means that potential buyers can find myself item when they are searching for a certain color. I try to use at least two different color names in my listings if I can.

Here are some of the Wikipedia entries:

Shades of Blue

Shades of Green

Shades of Yellow

Shades of Red

Shades of Violet

Shades of Orange