You may have noticed from my Instagram that I have been sewing up a storm lately. I just can't stop! I have so many ideas for garments I want to make, my fabric stash is getting out of hand, and I'm running out of places to store it. Painting seems to have taken a back seat the past 6 months or so - I'm trying not to take that as a failing and rather follow my creative spark wherever it leads. 

 

However, I think its often worthwhile to challenge yourself, so I'm working on a series of colorful floral still life oil paintings, inspired by the one I started almost a year ago. I've just begun painting some red-orange nasturtiums in a vase, and I have notes for other floral paintings that have been gathering dust for months. I'm excited to see all of them come to life.

I'm also going to be doing a studio art sale to clear out some physical and mental space. I'll be doing that through Instagram Stories so keep a look out!

In other news, I've started re-planning our belated wedding in Sweden! My husband Erik and I have been married for 8 years already but we never got to have a wedding, and then when the world-changing-event-that-shall-not-be-named happened in 2020, we had to cancel our plans. I feel much more prepared and organized this time around though, so I'm actually glad it got postponed.

I have been seeing combinations of magenta, orange, and yellow-green everywhere for the past year or so. It feels very young and energetic, yet also reminds me of the 1960s. Before I started painting a couple years ago, I would have never thought that these colors could look good together, but I've learned through experimenting and keeping an open mind that practically any colors on the spectrum can be harmonious if you play with them enough! 

I first came across Emily Noyes Vanderpoel's color studies on Pinterest and was instantly fascinated. I think what I love is how they combine a creative vision with a scientific approach. I later found out they all came from the same book, published in 1901, called Color Problems: A Practical Manual for the Lay Student of Color.

With 117 color plates, Vanderpoel examines the hues of the places and objects in her own world and lays them out either in very poetic, watercolor-like daubs of floating color, or arranges them into grids or geometric shapes. My absolute favorite page is the “color note from a bunch of azaleas,” which you can see below. 

 

She records the colors found in things like a stone, a teacup, a mummy case, a Persian rug, and a Japanese silk brocade. These are presumably objects in her own home. The original printing of the book also came with colored films through which to view certain pages in order to observe the interactions of color and light. This book was truly an incredible resource for her time, especially considering how recent the advancements in optics, pigments, and color theory were.

 

She took these new scientific advancements and made them accessible. “Color Problems is a guide for both hobbyists and people who work in the practical arts: florists, decorators, lithographers, salespeople who want to attractively display their wares.” Considering she worked hard to support the education and advancement of women in the arts throughout her life, we can guess this book was created with women in mind. (source: hyperallergic.)

Although this book is long out of print, The Circadian Press has published a reproduction, available in hard and soft cover here.