Pantone's Top 10 Colours for Spring 2017

I recently posted my Colour Palette for March with 5 lovely colours and while browsing the "net" earlier today I spotted a post on Design Taxi about Pantone's top 10 colours for Spring 2017 and noted some similarities to my colour palette!

The Pantone colours 13-0755, 14-1315, 17-4123 and 19-4045 are the ones I think are particularly close to my chosen colours.  Two of the other colours, 17-4123 and  18-0107 are close to two of my chosen colours for February 2017's Colour Palette, what do you think?

Colour Palette of the Month - March 2017

We are just five days into the Month and Spring is beginning to show in my garden with a few miniature daffodils and the last of my snowdrops.  There is a little warmth in the sun when it does shine, so I'm going to continue this cheer with my Palette of the month.

This photograph was taken a few years ago in the evening and the light gave the blue background which I love against the pale yellow of the flowers.  It would make some lovely striped fabric or an unusual and interesting tweed.
I used a quick Stripe Generator to produce the following pattern.  The colours aren't strictly true, but it gives you a good idea of what can be produced.

With the tweed design I wanted something a little different, not true checks or diagonal stripes, but a bit more broken.

I hope you like the ideas I've developed and I'd like to hear if you've had a go at reproducing your own designs or even these.

Colour Palette of the Month - February 2017

I felt it was about time that I re-instated the Colour Palette of the Month Series, so I'm kicking it off with February's palette.  This image is of Darrynane Beach in Kerry, Ireland.  It was a fabulously sunny day and I had to shoot into the sun to get this image, which was quite tricky.   I got the sparkle on the sea and the very strong shadows which in turn gave me the lovely smoky colours for this palette.

I hope you like this Palette, it's a good one for Colour Blending with fleece dyed in the basic colours of Red, Blue, Yellow, Black and White for a striped jumper, Fair Isle knitting or as a nice muted tweed fabric.  I'd love your feedback so leave a comment if you feel like it.

Alison

November Colour Palette

This  month's colour palette is featuring Autumn colour, but not in the traditional sense.








I wonder why I like these colours for November?  Are they a palette that you would choose?
How would you use these colours?


Lots of questions, but lets not let our brains vegetate over winter (and that manic season that will soon be upon us!)

Colour Palette of the Month - October!

While I was looking through my image collection for this months inspiration I came across this image which was "snapped" in August, when we were exploring out new area.  During a walk we came across an old tree that had been blown over in the wind and in the hole where the roots had been a lot of bracket fungi were growing.

I was really taken with the autumnal colours, even in August, and the fern just set off the browns, yellows and ochres.

These colours are very "tweed" like and I could see this as a coat fabric with the lime green fern colour as an accent with lime green accessories!  What do you all think?

Colour Palette of the Month - September

I'm afraid I missed last month, with our move, I completely forgot to post the palette I'd selected, so here it is now, for September!

The photograph was actually taken way back in March on our annual teaching visit to The Netherlands. The second part of the trip was down in Zeeland near Zierikzee where we had chance to visit the local beach.  It was a beautiful sunny, but blustery day and the beach was glinting in the sun, throwing shades of blue and terracotta between the stark white shells.

Colour Palette of the Month - July!

Last September I took my youngest up to Aberdeen University and we stopped by the Winter Gardens in Duthie Park.  What an amazing afternoon we spent there and I spent most of that time photographing the plants and flowers.

This months inspiration is one of the many beautiful flowers.

I absolutely adore this colour palette and think it might find it’s way into my new fabric collection to be launched in October.  What do you think?

By the way, can any of you identify the flower?

Colour Palette of the Month - June!

I know this is an early spring picture but it's so beautiful I couldn't resist using it for the June colour palette, particularly as one or two people thought the April picture was rather dull for a Spring palette.

In March, three colleagues and I were lucky enough to teach a couple of workshops in The Netherlands and between workshops we went to Delft.  These vivid tulips and anemones were in a flower shop we passed and we couldn't resist buying them.

What I love about this picture is the contrast in colours and the rich depth.  The anemone was slightly more purple than is shown here, but even then it's really gorgeous.

So what would I do with these colours?  Maybe a stipe pattern for a rug or set of place mats and table runner.

How would you use these colours?

Colour Palette of the Month - May!

Last month I picked an image of a building in The Hague that made me think of rugs for my colour palette inspiration.  However, one or two people thought it was a bit dull for a Spring palette.

This month I've picked a beautiful cornflower image.  I snapped the cornflowers in Rochfort sur Mar while I was on the Wednesday morning excursion at ISEND.

I hope you like it.  Let me know what you think, does it work for you?

Colour Palette of the Month - April!

Last month Jane Deane, Amanda Hannaford, Helen Melvin and I were in The Hague for a workshop.  It was arranged by Dineke de With, who lives in Leidschendam just north of the city.  We were making our way to catch the tram into The Hague when we came across this building which immediately made Jane and I think "Rug"!

I was tempted to rotate the image of the building 90 degrees, laying it on it's side, more reminiscent of a rug, but resisted.  Would you have rotated it?  I'd be interested to know.

Colour Palette of the Month - March!

I was given this image by Wendy Freebourne, a talented knitware designer from Bath.

The colours are so warm and rich that I couldn't resist using them for this months colour palette.

So what dye extracts would you use for this palette?

I'd give the following extracts a try, from the top:
Black - indigo and an iron modifier.
Khaki green - kamala and a light dip in indigo.
Rust - sappenwood.
Beige - cutch.
Buff - himalayan rhubarb with a copper modifier.

Colour Palette of the Month - February!

In November I was in Liverpool for a birthday treat.  Obviously a trip to the docks is a must and while there I took this photograph.

Initially it was the shapes that attracted me, but once uploaded to Photoshop the colours caught my eye and following my interest in urban colour I decided to use it for my February colour palette.


I hope you enjoy it.

Colour Palette of the Month - January!

Last year I was given this lovely bouquet by a friend I helped.  It was so beautiful it inspired this colour palette.  I was so pleased with the result, I used it as the starting point of a yarn for Dot Lumb's Yarnmaker magazine.

You can see the yarn I designed and spun in the latest edition which can be bought from the magazine's website, where you can also subscribe.

I hope you like my colour palettes of the month?  Let me know if you do and how you use them, oh and anything else you'd like or dislike or would like to see here!

Colour Inspiration from Landscapes - 2

Take a look at my images of Scotland, posted on my Facebook profile:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=252764&id=770223841&l=7354c8f931

Pick your favourite by commenting on it and I'll produce a colour palette from the most popular image!  We can then have a discussion on which dyes we'd use to produce the colours!

I'll start you off with this image from the album:
I love the smokey colours and the deep indigo blues!

Colour Palette of the Month - December!

I love colour and find it really hard to work with neutrals and monochromatic palettes.  It's strange then, that in this monochromatic snowy and frosty landscape I'm beginning to adjust!

Monday morning, this week, was really frosty in the Trent Valley and I couldn't help but take this photograph at 8.30 while out for our morning walk.

When I downloaded the image from my Blackberry I was really taken with the lovely rich browns, creams and apricots,  moving me to use it as my palette for December and as my Seasonal Greetings card.  It puts a new twist on winter colours!  It's certainly not winter white, is it?

Colour Palette of the Month - November!

Colour Inspirations from Urban Landscapes


At the beginning of October I had a lovely week-end in London.  On the Saturday I wanted to go to the Tate Modern to see the Gaugan Exhibition and decided to walk along part of the Embankment to the Millenium Bridge.
Along the way I came across quite a few juxtapositions of old buildings and new buildings as you can see on the left.  This particular one really caught my eye with the "all glass" building that takes on an indigo colour in the background and the beautiful old building, with it's sand coloured brick and detailing stone work.
How lovely this colour palette would be in natural dyes and weave!  From the top I'd use indigo with an iron modification; indigo on it's own, but dipped several times to build up the deep blue; a very light, quick dip in indigo with a very quick and light modification with iron to get the blue grey; Oak Gall modified with citric acid; cutch.
Mm..... This has really got me thinking!  What about you, what would you use?

Colour Palette of the Month - October

Last month I took my daughter to University in Aberdeen, while there we visited the Winter Gardens, a series of Victorian glass houses in Duthie Park south of the city.

I love anthuriums, they are a recurring theme in my work.  They are such strong flowers, strong in form, shape and colour and are the inspiration for this months colour palette. I worked on this palette when we got back from Aberdeen and just before we went to exhibit at 100% Design.  By coincidence one of the strong colours at the show was magenta!

I hope you enjoy this palette with or without the green I’ve added as a contrast.

Colour Palette of the Month - September

This month saw us taking a family break to the Yorkshire Dales and despite one day of inclement weather we managed to get in some really good walking.

While scrambling over a wall I spotted the lichen on one of the stones and as it was so gloomy and wet it was the gold that stood out.  Isn't strange how colour really pops out at you when it's dull, but on a bright day it can appear quite washed out!

So here's my colour palette for September, neutral greys and taupes with a bright zing of gold and fresh green.

Enjoy!

Colours of Kinder Scout!

Last Sunday, as our tribute to National Parks week, we walked from Barber Booth and up onto Kinder Scout, the highest point in the Peak District National Park, in Derbyshire.

It was a dry day, mostly, but up on Kinder we felt very close to the lowering clouds.  I'd never been up on top and was very saddened by the terrible erosion, but amazed by the rock formations and lovely muted colours.

Here is one of the wonderful rock formations that inspired me to produce this colour palette!

Anglesey Inspirations 2

The colours I saw in Anglesey have inspired me so much that I've prepared some colour selections.  I hope you find them as inspirational as me!

This first one takes the colours from the heathland at South Stacks on Holy Island.  The low growing heather and gorse were like a beautiful carpet of fresh greens, yellow and pinks.

"Colours of the Earth" takes it's inspiration from Parys Mountain, the copper mine near Amlwch on the north of Anglesey.

These earthy mineral colours reflect the range of ore that has been mined here for thousands of years and present a very warm palette.

Finally, our last morning on the beach at Aberffraw was the inspiration for this colour selection.

The contrast of the warm sand colours and the cool blues give a very fresh palette.