Beautiful Colors from Images

I have always heard that "the artist sees the world through different eyes," and I believe we do - as we SEE rather than just "look at" the world around us. It's a joy to be able to look at leaves lying in the grass, and wanting to interpret or adapt the way they look with an art medium. (In my case, this is usually watercolours, pottery, or needlepoint canvas.) I see texture on tree bark, and try to figure out how to stitch it. A cascade of flowers on a vine must be interpreted in silk ribbon. and on and on - there is a painting or design source anywhere you look, if you learn to observe and really see.

Yesterday I found a blog that's new to me, (via Jan Fitzpatrick's THREAD MEDLEY), and have spent hours going through it. Looking at beautiful images is good for the artistic soul - and anyone else's, as they seem to imprint on the mind! These pictures are from Kris's COLOR STRIPES blog, where she chooses a color palette from her photographs, and makes a gorgeous and coordinated color scheme from them - in the form of stripes.

I'm delighted to see this, as Sharon B's TIF Challenge is at an end this month, and I have enjoyed it a lot - my own challenge being to design something in needlepoint, using her chosen colors. Of course one has to also figure out which color will be dominant, etc. etc. - most enjoyable! This would also be a great help to anyone who has a problem with choosing thread colors for projects that require the "invention" of a color scheme. Be sure to go look, and enjoy!!