Color inspiration—plums

A basket of earth colored Reine Claude plums is a wistful reminder that summer is waning and autumn is waiting in the wings. Photo by David Lebovitz

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Color inspiration—dahlias

How lovely are these dahlias in shade of demure pinks and apricots? No bold fuchsias here—grabbing attention and stealing the show—just dainty ladies in their frilly dresses, all getting along at the ball. The colors remind me of frosty sweet sherbet.

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Color inspiration—lilacs

The lovely lilacs are coming into bloom. Could spring ever be complete without sniffing the heavenly aroma of a lilac blossom?

I snapped this photo at a Market in Paris on my last trip there. This old woman was shouting her heart out for people to buy her lilac and lily-of-the-valley bouquets. If we weren't leaving in a few days I surely would have bought some from her.

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Color Inspiration: mixed border

Holy smoke—that's a whole lot of scrumptious color and texture happening here. The giant rhubarb leaf alone has that rusty mauve groove happening, and the leaves of the deep purple huchera (coral bells) is divine.

Color inspiration—In the pink

I am in a bit of a pink mood today and inspired by these flowers.

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Color Inspiration—ripe apricots

 

Pow! How about those colors? 

Ripe apricots looks irrisistable against a turquoise tabletop

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Color Inspiration— scrumptious garden

 

I'm still dreaming of spring, and until ours arrives I'll have to settle for colorful photos and paintings of flora. American artist Childe Hassam painted these sorts of wonderfully detailed paintings, of the seaside and of gardens. This is one painting he produced in a friend's garden on the Isles of Shoals. I love the delicate splashes of color against the greens and blues, which really help the background recede. To me this garden is scrumptious—truly, truly scrumptious.

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Color Inspiration—greens + irises

I really do see the world in colors. It's thrilling to me when I come across two seemingly disparate images within a few days' time—in this case, a photo of edible greens and a painting of a patch of irises in a garden—that both comprise a very similar color palette. In my next garden painting, I'll just have to use these sublime colors. 

Claude Monet's 'Irises'

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Color Inspiration—Delacroix's Lion Hunt

March—in like a lion... 

This is a detail of Eugène Delacroix's, Lion Hunt. Just look at the sumptuous colors that he used in this painting, created in 1861. I am in awe of the colors and brushwork, and energy, not to mention the dramatic lion scene. The subject of felines in the wild was one that really interested Delacroix. I've seen this painting at the Art Institute of Chicago—it's quite spectacular.

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Color Inspiration—shades of winter

Impressionist Alfred Sisley died on this day in 1899.  He was a landscape painter who worked in the style of Pissaro and Monet. This painting—The Watering Place at Marly-le-Roi—uses colors that we see throughout the winter. Gray and somber to some, I think the colors are lovely.

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Color inspiration—Scottish heather

This is one of my favorite photos that we snapped in the Isle of Skye during our recent two-week spin around the Scottish countryside. (Hi Sheep!) What a beautiful country. The hillsides weren't just speckled with heath and heather plants—they were magnificently swathed in it. Although we have a small patchwork of a heath and heather garden in the front of our house, it's not quite this colored heather, which I seriously covet.

I sway towards these purply-mauve colors in my garden anyhow. Below is one of my flower borders in the spring, with alliums in full bloom, and two species of irises that are not too far behind and ready to bloom. This fall I planted heaps of mauve colored tulips in this flower border, so next spring it will be a symphony of mauve and purple colors, which—I hope—will remind me of this particular spot in Scotland... minus the sheep.

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The color squash blossom!

Inspired by... the color squash blossom. 

The Veuve Clicquot balloons are festive,
and I love Cecil Beaton's advice.... 

Be daring, be different!

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Color Inspiration—wisteria

Our wisteria is in bloom! 

Those blossoms are pretty gorgeous, and the bees love them too. 

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Color inspiration—a melange of blues

This magnificent melange of blues is a sky detail from Vincent Van Gogh's View of the Roofs of Paris. It's so modern—and crazy to believe that it was painted in 1886. The colors, texture and overall intensity are very inspiring.

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Color Inspiration— WM's Tapestry

Easter greetings! I adore the muted colors of William Morris's The Forest tapestry (most likely faded from it's original glorious colors). This handsome hare was featured on The Forest Tapestry—designed by William Morris in 1887 at Merton Abbey—and woven by Morris & Co.'s three most excellent senior weavers. The tapestry depicts scrolling acanthus leaves, a lion, peacock, hare and fox, all frolicking among wild flowers. Shown below is the entire tapestry.

Click to enlarge.

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Color Inspiration—Swiss chard

Swiss Chard is easy to grow and great in the garden for eating of course, but it also looks impressive en mass as a bold and colorful garden design element. Try planting some in your flower bed. Here they look nice and springy!

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Color inspiration—Caravaggio's lips

Carravaggio used these lovely 

blush pink and peachy colors so well.

Looks like a Revlon lipstick ad, but really, I'm

just dreaming of those first blooms of spring.

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Color inspiration— reflecting on white

Click to see larger image

I am fascinated by a trend on the web today, in which the mass population appears to have polarizing views about the colors in a certain dress. The dress aside, white is one of those tricky colors, and simply put, is the reflection of the colors around it, and actually a mixture ALL the colors of the rainbow.

White reflects all 

the colors of the visible 

light spectrum to the eyes.

The left photo was taken on a cloudy day, so the white colors and shadows look gray. We all know how white (ish) snow can look on a bright, sunny day, but yet, look at those gorgeous shades of grayish blue!

The middle photo was taken in a room with orange walls, and sunset, hence the darker beige hues. (You'll just have to trust me that the curtain and sculpture is actually white.) On a bright day this scene looks much whiter, and yet, look at those gorgeous shades of pinkish beige!

The right photo was taken after a snowstorm, in the shade, so the shadows looked very blue. Again, we all know how white (ish)  snow looks on a sunny day, but yet, look at those shades of blue!

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Color inspiration—gilded bliss

In my eye, these five seemingly disparate art works are connected by one sure thing … color! Just look at the glorious golden glow of these widely varied paintings and sculpture. Clockwise from top left are: J.M.W. Turner's Sunrise with Sea Monster, The Winged Victory of Samothrace, from the Musée du Louvre, Catherine Kiernan's abstract piece titled Refractions, and Jamie Wyeth's Shorty. It's all visual harmony and gilded bliss.

Color inspiration—magenta + yellow

Nothing like a little splash of happy in the dead of winter!

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