I’m getting a lot of new work ready for this new year that is already charging forward at a kind of blinding pace. This season, rather than the hurtling, head-down, sew-and-print-as-fast-as-I-can pace that the fall embraced, I’m still hurtling through, but also taking any shreds of time I can grab to make a conscientious effort to plan out the look of a few things and really try to give a tone to the new work that’s in the hopper. There may be piles all around me, but I’m not going to let it make me disorganized!
Winter doesn’t necessarily offer a lot of color ideas, but when I sat down and thought about it, I landed on several colors and patterns and textures that are awfully exciting, when they all come together. In other seasons it can be a bit easier to land on happy accidents of color; spring and summer are all about bright grass green, vibrant, and awake tones and, in fall, it’s easy to think of burnt oranges and fiery reds and rich ochre and chocolate brown…the colors I tend toward even when it’s not the middle of October!
Winter’s coldness presents us with an awful lot of neutral colors and whiteness, and thinking about all this color is when I realized it’s all about texture for me, and there happen to be a few great colors that agree with the textures I’m after including wool, leather, paper, cotton, and silk, at the moment.
As far as simple descriptors are concerned, soft and cozy are a good place to start, and I’ve landed on some great linen whites and natural oatmeal-y cream colors, soft browns, icy blue greys and organic green/grey combinations. I’m not the first to figure out that these colors work, but I’m hoping to introduce texture in to all of this in a big way…and to extend it across the book work I’m doing, as well as a pile of new letterpress pieces.
This is just the start and I will have lots more to share soon, but I think a sneak peek of what’s to come is always fun and gets us all thinking a little about the possibilities out there!
Finally, two gems about looking closely, from Amy Lowell and Henry M. Seiden.