Blues on Sunday

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A Bit of Inspiration for the Final Push

Whilst enjoying a bit of a lazy Sunday afternoon, I wandered about the interwebs for a little something that might provide some inspiration for those who have been following along on our International Mail Art | Celebration of Sapphire adventure, but haven’t yet gotten a submission in the mail. I happened upon a quite interesting website: Color Meanings. - found after doing a search for “all things blue” - they appeared in my search results with a nifty link for “220+ Things That Are Blue in Nature.” It is a lovely listing of everything (plants, animals, stones, etc.)!

I was further intrigued by the host’s (one Jacob Oleson) visual cataloguing of various colors that included: a brief overview of the color, the general composition of the color, what it symbolizes, it’s supposed effects, positive associations, negative associations, and examples of various shades (with their hex codes for online designing)! In addition to all of that, each overview extends to a much fuller look at each color along with it’s history (discovery, associations, etc.). It was quite a pleasant romp into the land of colors and their meanings. But, of course, I only had eyes for the blues ;) Toward that end, I have linked to each hue of blue featured at Color Meanings.com for your perusal….

First up, that which informs the remainder of all offerings today: Blue. Read on for a fuller look at this indicator of calm.

Next up, blue’s darker cousin: Cobalt. After learning more about the attributes of cobalt, I have a greater understanding of my love of cobalt blue glassware.

Ever since I wiled away the hours, entranced by the Crayola Box of 64 colors, I have been a fan of Periwinkle. While Oleson’s site places it closer to violet, I have always seen it as closer to blue (?) Learning more about it’s properties and linkages, I understand why it has always been a fave.

Last up in our line up of the blues: Royal Blue. I must admit, I have never been a fan of this color (it probably stems from my stint in the 8th grade Chorus when we had to have these awful jumpsuits made to wear for a performance at some mall - we looked like a marauding band of blueberries!). I did find learning more about it’s history quite interesting (still not my favorite, tho’).

Finally, if learning more about these colors has you curious, you can take a quick quiz to discover your Color Personality. It’s free and he also offers a more comprehensive “color report” for a fee, if that’s your thing. “What is my Color Personality?”, you ask - I was surprised to learn that it is:

The description seems spot-on, yet I have never thought of myself as a “purple person.” I guess you never know!

Well, I certainly hope that this little exercise has provided you with a bit of inspiration and a new way to look at the blues. With only five-and-a-half weeks remaining in our International Mail Art - Celebration of Sapphire, we anxiously await the mail every day. Plenty of time left to get your missive on its way!

Until next time,
Keep on creating beauty!
- Penny

Tips on Tuesdays #008 Mixed Media Collage

I often say that Christmas brings out the blue in me—no, I don’t mean holiday blues—I mean in reaction to the proliferation of all things red and green, I am drawn to the color blue. Which is perfect for this, my final ToT for our International Mail Art Celebration of Sapphire which falls during the holiday season!

My holiday themed idea was to create two mixed media collage tree ornaments on a postcard using found painted papers, specially created painted papers (because, of course), and snippets of blue culled from magazines. To draw the ornaments onto white card stock, I used a circle template, choosing two sizes which would fit on the 4”x6” card. Next I drew in the top hangers. Once the ornaments were cut out, I began searching through my stash of painted papers and old magazines for just the right shades, patterns, and textures of blue to create the ornament collages.

In a lovely moment of serendipity (during which I exclaimed aloud and woke Luna from a sound sleep), I found this Van Cleef & Arpels “Treasure Island” advertisement, which included the word Sapphire, in blue!!

On the back of this image in the magazine, there was a blue outlined version, which suited my needs PERFECTLY!

Of course, I HAD to use this, and it formed the basis of the larger of my two ornaments. I also found a satellite view of the Earth which fit the smaller ornament exactly (also magical, right?!), which became the anchor for that one. Everything else fell into place, and once the elements were glued, each ornament contained a combination of painted paper scraps and magazine finds. For a final flourish, I added Posca Metallic Blue pen details to accent the ornament tops and hooks.

I didn’t have a pre-painted paper in just the right shades of blue for the postcard background, so I created one. I sponged a layer of DecoArt Metallic Peacock Pearl over a Lumiere Pearlescent Emerald overall background. Once those layers were dry, I swiped swaths of almost dry paint from the center to each side with Golden Fluid Acrylic Anthraquinone Blue, to suggest evergreen (or everblue?!) boughs.

Once I placed the collaged ornaments on the painted background, it was clear that something was missing—the various blues complimented each other, but in some areas, the ornaments seemed to disappear. Black Sharpie pen to the rescue! I ran the side of the fine point nib around the edges of the ornaments, and voilà! The thin rim of black defined the edges just enough; subtle but effective.

I added a bit of black Sharpie fine line detailing on the ornament tops too.

So, check your paper and magazine stashes for shades, textures, patterns, photos, or advertisements for your own Sapphire serendipity…who knows what treasures you’ll discover!

And, there’s still time to join the fun: the deadline for Celebration of Sapphire postcards to be postmarked is December 31st.
Need a refresher on the ‘rules’ and where to send?
Click here for our original post.

Penny will round out our Tips on Tuesdays posts soon, so stay tuned!
Until next time,
Michelle