Athena Dreams Design

Pantone Memories

I've had a deep and abiding love affair with Pantone since my first year in art school. First year in most art schools means having to take a class in every discipline, even if you think you already know what you want to focus on, and I groaned when I saw that Design 101 was on my schedule.

Design was so not what I had come to art school to do, and funnily enough, it turned out to be fun, and something I was good at... funny how that works, skill and desire for something I never would have done on my own.

The first assignment was about illustrating a word. I got the word "naked".

We were given a list of materials we could use to complete the project and off I went to the school store to look at what my options were. It was then and there that I met Pantone papers, then printed by Letraset.

I had never heard of Pantone, never knew you could buy sheets of printed paper in colours that stretched though more hues and shades and tints then I had ever seen before. I was smitten. I was, truth be told, delirious. And if I had had thousands of dollars would have purchased one (and in some cases three) of everything. I did purchase a few in my favourite colours, and then purchased 5 shades of "naked", and completed my first design assignment (pre-Photoshop, Illustrator and etc).

In this wonderfully modern age of electronic everything, some things have gone the way of the dinosaur, and the pantone papers are no longer made, but you can find them here and there, every once in a while.

I still have some 3" x 5" sample sheets that I use sometimes. But mostly, I look at them and arrange the colours and remember the first time I met Pantone.

 

And what got me started down this particular memory lane? Well, just in time for NY Fashion Week, Pantone released their Fall 2012 Colour Report.

turquoise : pinterest-ing pins

Turquoise has always had a way with my heart... so shimmery, ethereal, and somehow, mysteriously it remains so grounded and deep. Turquoise is the colour of one of my favourite stones, the mediterranean sea with the sun shining on it, a perfect spring sky, or a beautiful shining pool.

In the last paragraph of Victoria Finlay's book Color: A Natural History of the Palette, she says:

When I was two days from finishing the first draft of this book, a friend called from New York in great excitement. "There's a text message on CNN. They say someone's found the color of the universe."... I grabbed my pen and wrote down that scientists at Johns Hopkins University had discovered the color of the light in the universe. And that it was pale turquoise*. I had no idea what it meant, but it suggested that my journey was not over. And that there was a whole world - no, a whole universe - of color stories still to find. -Victoria Finlay

*Johns Hopkins later changed their findings and made a second and slightly embarrassed announcement that the "colour of the universe" was not actually turquoise but beige, due to a computer bug.

Beige? Really? Personally, I am sticking with the first finding, that it is indeed Turquoise and not Beige that reflects the colour of the universe.

Enjoy some turquoise!

(clockwise from top left):

Painting by Alessandro Twombly
Turquoise Piano from Addicted 2 Decorating {via Classy Clutter}
Turquoise cupboards by Heinrich Ingenson
Turquoise Accents from SAS Interiors
Twinkle a photograph from Irene Suchocki
Glass Jar Tutorial from Martha Stewart {pinned by Mercedes A Averbuch}
Marrakech curtains from Anthropologie

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Each week a different topic illustrated with some of my favourite images from Pinterest.

If you are a Pinterest user, pinning on pinterest please remember to "Link with Love" and credit the maker, the creator, the ideator, or the originator.

If you'd like to share on Pinterest you can find me here!

Do those Things . . .

My new-est bracelet idea, with minature art pendants and beads, and chain and wire. Wrap it 4x, wrap it 5x and clasp it shut... it shines and shimmers, and tinkles and clinks, and there's always something different to look at....

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Do those things that make you happy.

Do those things that make you want to get up and do a little happy dance.

Do those things that make you feel 5 years old all over again. Remember bringing home a drawing that you spent an afternoon making in kindergarten, a drawing you loved making from start to finish, to give it to your Mum.

Do those things that make you grin so wide, that your eyes get squinty and your face feels a little stretched out afterwards.

Do those things that you put at the bottom of your list, because there's more important things like: balancing the check book or picking up the dry-cleaning, sweeping the kitchen floor or meeting a deadline. Turn the list upside down, and do the *fun* things that might be at the bottom of yours too.

Do those things that you wake up thinking about.

Do all of those things because they feed every other little thing you could possibly have on your list of must-do's, to-do's and need-to-do's.

Do those things that you are moved to do because they feed your soul, your imagination your spirit and your chi.

Just do those things . . .

 

Blue Tuesday

 out of the blue: unexpected

 true blue: loyal or faithful

 blue plate special: a specially priced meal at a restaurant

  once in a blue moon: an event that occurs infrequently

Curious Girl .:. Colour Week

Red & Pink Monday

Wish on everything. 

Pink cars are good, especially old ones. 

And stars of course, first stars and shooting stars. 

Planes will do if they are the first light in the sky and look like stars. 

Wish in tunnels, holding your breath and lifting your feet off the ground. 

Birthday candles. 

Baby teeth.  

-Francesca Lia Block

 

 

 
Seems that pink definitely dominates my world. . . . with just a touch of red. I think I resisted pink for years and years and years, but no longer. It is luscious and lovely . . . 

Curious Girl .:. Colour Week

Mauve & Turquoise = A Beautiful Place

Two colours that together make me feel the most: happy, giddy, hungry, satisfied, dreamy and alive. 

I go back to these two, over and over again. 

Isn't it a wonderful and amazing thing that two colours, side by side, can make the world feel like a wonderful serene place, no matter how much chaos is going on around us.

Visit the photographers of these two lovely colours here: . Untitled, 2. Even Turquoise Gets the Blues, 3. Cool caribbean colors, 4. Purple Dream, 5.trollbeads, 6. 822 - Turquoise and lavender, 7. Turquoise, 8. Kitty toy, 9. P5120541 Erinus 'Dr. Hahnle'-Fairy foxgloves on turquoise.

Blue Thoughts (happy ones too)

I never get tired of the blue sky. - Vincent van Gogh Aaah to sing the praises of the colour blue. Vivid, ephemeral, timid and bold, blue can say so many different things, in so many different hues. One of my most favourite blues is the autumn sky where I grew up back east. There are days when it turns the most electric shade, and deepens to a shade that seems now, to not be really, real. I know now that the colour is due to some atmospheric phenomenon thingy, that interests me far less than remembering that bluest of blue skies while swishing through piles of leaves, on a walk on an autumn day. I tried endless times to photograph that sky, and the film or the slides would get close, but never re-create the exact hue.

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy . . . Rejoice, for your soul is alive. -Eleanora Duse

When I was in Greece, I discovered that blue was predominant. More often than not, there was a blue sky, and just about everywhere I was, there was the the blue sea and so much of the mediterranean architecture typically included white washed walls and blue doors. After I had been there for a while I learned that the blue doors were less about beauty and more about warding off the evil eye. Whatever the reason for the blue doors, they never cease to make me feel happy when I see photos of them now.

The first summer I was in Greece I worked on a fishing boat, mending nets. No, not your usual job. I sometimes considered putting it on my resume, but have never done it. But when I think back to that summer, my first memory is of blue. Blue Sky. Blue Sea. Blue Boat. We would leave before dawn, and as the sun came up the greys and pinks and golds would all build themselves up to be blue. All morning, I would sit on the deck and mend the nets that were pulled in, as others were thrown out. The squinting glare so blue, the blue would bcome a blinding white. We would get back in the early afternoon, just in time for siesta, and my eyes always felt such relief, to see greens and browns, colours that would soak up the light, rather than boucing it back.

Oh! darkly, deeply, beautifully blue', / As someone somewhere sings about the sky. -Byron

Blue seems to be hands down, most everyones favourite colour. In psychological terms, blue is safe, it is capable, blue is trustworthy. With sky and oceans, blue is seen as a constant in our lives. Some "colourful" phrases about blue (from Sensational Colour) Out of the blue: unexpected True blue: to be loyal or faithful Once in a blue moon: an event that occurs infrequently

Blue ribbon: first place; to describe something as being of the highest quality Blue blood: an aristocrat Blue law: laws about morality issues Blue comedy: jokes about socially taboo subjects Blueprint: a detailed design of an object or idea Blue plate special: a special priced meal at a restaurant Bluestocking: a woman with strong scholarly interests Feeling blue: to feel sad or unhappy and then of course, everyone's favourite, most comfortable

blue jeans. Blue is the only color which maintains its own character in all its tones... it will always stay blue; whereas yellow is blackened in its shades, and fades away when lightened; red when darkened becomes brown, and diluted with white is no longer red, but another color – pink. -Raoul Dufy

The touch of an infinite mystery passes over the trivial and the familiar, making it break out into ineffable music... The trees, the stars, and the blue hills ache with a meaning which can never be uttered in words. -Rabindranath Tagore

Moments with Blue

While I am away, I am re-posting some thoughts on Blue, for the autumn blue skies happening these days. Hope you enjoy the Blue celebration! blue n 1 : a colour whose hue is that of the clear sky or that of the portion of the colour spectrum lying between green and violet 2 a : a pigment or dye that colours blue b : BLUING 3 a : Blue clothing or cloth b pl a blue costume or uniform 4 : one who wears a blue uniform: as a : a soldier in the Union army during the American Civil War b : the Union army 5 a : (1) : SKY (2) : the far distance b : SEA 6 : a blue object 7 : BLUESTOCKING 8 : any of numerous small chiefly blue butterflies (family Lycaenidae) 9 : BLUEFISH — out of the blue : without advance notice : UNEXPECTEDLY (a job offer that came out of the blue) -Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary Blue is the hue of intellect, peace and contemplation. It represents water and coolness and symbolizes the sky, infinity the emptiness from which existence arises and to which it returns. To the Christians blue is the colour of the Virgin as Queen of Heaven and denotes fath, compassion and the waters of baptism. The ancient Greeks and Romans attributed the colour blue to Aphrodite and Venus, the goddess of Love. -The Secret Language of Symbols by David Fontana

Primary colour long associated with sky, heaven, peace and truth, it became the convention in icon painting to portray the Virgin Mary in blue robes. This is thought to be a continuation of a pagan belief that blue stones and glass could drive away demons, including the witch known as the evil eye. The same tradition survives today with the dressing of boys in blue, while their sisters are dresses in pink, symbolically the colour of earth and appropriately, of fertility. -Living Colours

The colour of Heaven, distance and water. It is usually experienced as transparent, pure, immaterial and cool. Blue is the colour of the divine, of truth and of fidelity, (in the sense of clinging to the truth, as well as with reference to the fixed firmament of heaven). Blue is the colour of the unreal and the fantastic — blue flower being the symbol of the romantic yearning for the infinite. -The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols

Long associated with the serenity of a clear, cloudless blue sky reflected over a calm sea, the light, mid and deep blues bring a feeling of respite and introspection – a quiet, cool permanence. The human mind embraces the concept of blue as tranquil and constant nad translates it into a symbolic images of dependability and loyalty. -Color: Messages and Meanings by Leatrice Eiseman --- Blue has that eternal quality going for it. How many people do you know that say it is their favourite of all colours? I know many, granted most of them men, but I think that overall, blue is a colour (much like green) that holds an appeal for everyone. <strong>What are your favourite blues?</strong> Denim? Cerulean? Powder? Sea? Summer Sky? All artwork and photography by Liz Kalloch Painting of Our Lady of Guadelupe by Karen Schmidt-Carbetta

Corner View .:. "Street Fashion"

Street fashion . . . usually you think of what people out and about on the street are wearing, this street fashion is all about what the streets were wearing in my neighborhood this weekend . . . 

The Italian Street Painting Festival! The center of downtown is all blocked off to traffic and artists move in for 2 days to create amazing work on the street with chalks. I always spend a few hours walking around while the artists are still "painting" and hordes of people are milling and watching, but truly, my favourite part of the event is Monday morning when the barricades are taken down and the cars and bicycles start driving on the roads.

Yes, a little eerie, especially early in the morning, but there is also something quite magical and freeing. It's kind of akin to the tradition of the Tibetan Mandala Sand Painting where a beautiful piece of art is created and then destroyed - all to reflect the impermanence of life.

In this case, perhaps the symbolism is less about demonstrating the impermanence of life, and more about life just goes on, and people have to get to work on a Monday morning . . .  

I have never driven on top of these paintings, but I do go downtown almost every year on the Monday morning after, to look at the images fading and watch the car tires turning all different colours of chalk. It's kind of fascinating to watch, but I don't think I could drive my car over them.  

And, the one piece remaining mostly intact, in the driveway of the Mission School . . .  "street fashion" in my neighborhood this week.

For more Corner Views, visit here.

Visions and Dreams and All Those Things

Sometimes I wish that I was a person who didn't start the rice cooking for dinner, and then forget all about it because I picked up a book I am in the middle of reading, and then can't put it down. 

The rice just does not wait patiently to be turned down.

And sometimes I wish that I was a person who had all her plans and schedules carefully organised, and never forgot a meeting, or a deadline, or a date for tea, or a walk with my favourite dog, who lives down the street.

And sometimes I am a person who has just luck enough to spend my days designing and colouring and fitting pieces and words together, to create a page in a calendar that may hang on someone's wall  and remind them that the world truly is a magnificent, magical and lovely place, when we remember that every tomorrow truly can be a vision of hope.

Sometimes a day just has all the right curves, all the right corners and all the right edges to make a person feel truly blessed. And really, what more can we ask for, than some days that make us feel like that. And so, to a beautifully wonderful day. There may (and will) be those days that come along that try to make me forget what a beautiful day can be, and so I am placing a marker on my page, to help me remember.