Sensational Color Pro Kate Smith's Online Color Journal » orange

Color Quote of the Day: March 20th

Kate Smith — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:05:29 +0000

“If we were to imagine an orange on the blue side or green on the red side or violet on the yellow side, it would give us the same impression as a north wind coming from the southwest.”

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein

JCrew Savings Inspired

Kate Smith — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:34:06 +0000

I regularly see articles or books that talk about looking to fine art or photographs of nature for color scheme inspiration and these are great places to find beautiful combinations however color inspiration can come from anywhere that there is color.

My inbox seems to be ripe recently with ads filled with color inspiration. This email advertisement from JCrew caught my eye this evening because it uses a variety of red and orange hues in a way the I found particularly appealing.

They have taken the trend of combining red and orange that has been quite popular this holiday (especially among their target audience) and and subtly used it to add interest to this mostly red and white ad.

The Colors of Carolyn Gavin

Kate Smith — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 16:01:53 +0000

I opened up my email to find this absolutely adorable group of characters on an ad for Licensed Products at Printsource in January. The artwork is by Carolyn Gavin and it simply made me smile.

I like the combination of colors she chose and decided to take a closer look at the palette that has a youthful energy with grown up appeal.

Here are a few more designs by Carolyn Gavin. I think she has an incredible sense of color.

Tree at Williamsburg Inn

Kate Smith — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:29:32 +0000

I was in Williamsburg over the Thanksgiving holiday and during a stroll in the garden behind the Inn I was taken with the pattern and colors in the bark of this tree.

The gray and orange combination would make a very sophisticated color palette for either an interior and exterior of a home.

Quite a different look than the orange in yesterday’s Etsy Inspired color palette. These tones of orange are much more sedate and complex.

With gray moving to the forefront in 2009 we will see it being used

Etsy Inspired

Kate Smith — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:12:56 +0000

I was on Twitter today when i clicked a link to view a treasury on etsy.com. Carol Langston of Designingit had put together this collection of blue and orange items that caught her fancy and it inspired me to think about this color combination.

This complementary scheme can take on many variations and here are three I pulled from the photos

Half Inspired

Kate Smith — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:35:32 +0000

Actually completely inspired but loved the play on words because today’s color scheme inspiration comes from my friend and CMG colleague Paul Half and his blog Half2Know.

I took a section of his blog and created the color palette shown below. I think the colors work great for his blog header but couldn’t you just image this color scheme in an interior of an apartment or knitted into a favorite sweater?

These aren’t the exact colors perhaps but when I paint a landscape I work to capture the feeling of the scene in colors that please me rather than worrying about whether or not they are the exact hues.

My thought process is much the same when I develop a color scheme from something that inspires me and I hope it is your approach as well. No need to worry about getting the colors exactly but rather focus on putting together colors that please you.

And just in case you were wondering here is what the full banner looks like.

Color Quote of the Day: November 19th

Kate Smith — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 23:05:28 +0000

“In Autumn you can take one maple leaf and see almost all the colours of the rainbow in it – although you would need your imagination to see blue.”

Dorthe Eisenhardt
Artist

JCrew Inspired Color Palette

Kate Smith — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:48:31 +0000

A visit to JCrew inspired this color palette.

See how they used the two hues of purple in my post on Live In Full Color…

Sunrise Palette

Kate Smith — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:05:29 +0000

I was delighted this morning by a sunrise in deep blues, golden yellow and light coral.

What a colorful way to start my day.

Color Quote of the Day: October 18th

Kate Smith — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:05:15 +0000

“Reds, yellows and oranges conjure up sunlight and fire, while the blues and blue-greens evoke snow and ice, sea, sky and moonlight.”

Anonymous

See all quotes about color…