Crusade No. 53 ~ Mad Scientist

 

I loved the responses to last month's crusade!  I found it totally interesting to learn how you respond to the season with your color choices.  Some of you love to have change, and some are die-hards for their go-to palettes.  Really fascinating don't you think?  Thank you for contributing to the conversation with your posts.  The observations and reflections on the way we think and work are part of understanding our own process.  This month we are going to continue with color.

As the banner states, when messing around with paint we often end up with mixes - that can either happen on a wet page, or maybe it happens right on your palette as you blend to find the right color.  Maybe it occurs when you use a dirty brush - love when THAT happens.  You pick up a brush that has a little bit of this and a little bit of that on it and you dip it into a third thing and stroke it across the page for a miraculous combination you couldn't repeat if you tried.  Let's look at all those gorgeous blends - and give them a name!

Here's what made me think of this one - last fall we were ready to shake off the sage walls and go for something brownish.  I was sure I picked the right color and began painting a swatch on the wall.  When it wasn't quite right I blamed the green - thinking it was competing with the brown.  But the more I painted the worse it looked.  So rather than go back to the paint store to look at the impossibly small chips of alternative color, I decided to get out some black, and some white, and some brown, and mix up my own color.  Then I took that concoction to the store, and found just the right thing.  The color I found was a number....so I gave it a name.

 
 

 

Obviously I'm not expecting you to take on your living room walls as part of the crusade.  I would like you to look through your past work - you don't have to come up with new pages, just a new post that remarks on your color mixes.  See what cool things have happened under your brush.  Pick one or several blends and give them a name.

 
To get some ideas for color names:  pull out a dictionary or thesaurus and look up a color.  Or go to an online resource.  For instance:  Red.  Also called scarlet, crimson, cardinal, fire engine, lust, rose,...it's a fun exercise to investigate both color names and their meanings.  Visit a paint store for another experience on naming - from the clever to the ridiculous.  When you choose a color name you may want to dig deep to claim something personal, or go with the first thing that comes to mind like a literal interpretation.  No rules.  Just another way to engage your brain when observing color.

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

So that's it.  Look at your work.  See where you have mixed or blended colors.  Point it out to us and give it a name.  Make a blog post that illustrates where a mix occured and what you have named your color.  If you don't paint, but rather use beads or fiber or fabric, why not revisit Crusade No. 52 and name your palette - whether seasonal or default.

EDIT 7/8:  In case you missed it in the comments below, fellow crusader Kimber shared a link to a fun article about color names in the New York Times, HERE.  And within that article is a link to THIS SITE, about color palettes.  Thanks for these Kimber! 

 

 

Comments

[Kimber]

I love colors and color names.
Wanted to share this article, in case you hadn't seen it...about color names. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/us/30paint.html?_r=2

Thanks Michelle, for another crusade!

[Michelle Brown]

Great crusade! I did some blending over the weekend, so will have to dig that out again. I was TRYING to make off-white / cream because I thought I had almost run out and needed more, and was trying to match it to something else I had already started.

Making cream is really hard; it's turned out more a sunny yellow ~ who knew!

[Judy Neubert]

Michelle-
Happy 4th!! So excited to come here and find a new crusade, that it is an Evidence Crusade and that it involves color, creation and giving titles. Can't wait to get started.

I see you used your inspiration from the bag. VERY NICE.

Until later,
Judy

[Marie Z Johansen]

Great plan! I love, love, love the way you think these things through so well. Amazing!
Thanks for another fun challenge!

[teri]

Fun! Your wall color, by the way, looks like creamy mushroom soup.

[Regina]

Can I hug you? I LOVE this challenge. Promise to share, just not sure if can make the deadline since I'm getting ready for an art show & family obligations call. I WILL be back. xo

[Melisa]

Great challenge! Sometimes the challenges seem a little overwhelming (but that's just me!) but this one I can do. I was just talking about how fun it would be to have the job of naming the new nail polish colors. I have some blends I use a lot but I've never thought of naming them. Should be fun.

[Chris]

Well, having read about this challenge, I must get out my scraps and look through my photos (most of my work has gone elsewhere) and find my evolution. I know it's going to have a lot to do with green. but wouldn't it be a riot to surprise myself with lots of reds? HA!

This is a great challenge. And an education.

[Michelle Brown]

Introducing Spicy Cinnamon and Sunny Glow...

http://aztecmichelle.wordpress.com/2011/07/10/gpp-no-53-mad-scientists/

Thanks for a brilliant Crusade - I'm sure I'll be back before the end of the month!

[Lianne]

Oooo I've just discovered this site! Is it better to start at the beginning or here? I want to play!!

[TJ]

Thank you for a fun and super challenging crusade Michelle! I did it:

http://studiomailbox.typepad.com/tales_from_studio_mailbox/2011/07/confessions-of-a-color-disaster.html

Hope you have a terrific and colorful weekend! Best wishes from germany, tj

[Tusia]

Hello :) Thank you for super fun with colors :)
http://ototusia.blogspot.com/2011/07/mad-scientist-and-seasonal-wardrobe.html

[iamrushmore]

great exercise! it helped me solve a color mystery!

http://iamrushmore.blogspot.com/2011/07/crusade-no-53.html

[Maria]

it's not even CLOSE to the end of the month and I have my post ready!! WOOT! http://mariasangel.blogspot.com/2011/07/many-challenges-one-project.html

[Jane]

Thank you Michelle, for this great color challenge! As always I had a blast.

http://paintedheartstudio.blogspot.com

[Lena]

Playing in the basement with my acrylics. Thank you for a great play!
Lena

[iHanna]

Thanks for the reminder to MIX colours, not just use them from the jar all the time! :-)

http://www.ihanna.nu/blog/2011/07/colour-swatches-and-poetic-words/

XOXOX

[Bev]

I have been taking part in the Summer of Colour and each week having blending colours! I love it.
This past week was red and I loved the colours I created. Here's my link:
http://bunnysgirl.blogspot.com/2011/07/sunday-weekly-wrap-up_17.html

[Suzie Cross]

Hi Michelle: I so enjoy your blog! I'm jumping in for the first time on the Crusades-YAY! Here's my blog link:

http://inkadoodle.blogspot.com

Such fun!

[Michelle Brown]

*** News Flash ***

If you follow the link to the color pallet site, noted by Kimber [http://www.colourlovers.com/palettes]
- click on a pallet you like
- then click on Create Pattern
and the colours are displayed as different patterns. You can change them too.

It's a great way to see the colours being used in different ways!

[QuinnCreative]

I'm SO glad there are so many people doing this. I'll have to check them out over the next few days. The best part of this challenge is seeing what everyone else comes up with!

I used the three primary colors (which I renamed, too, of course!) to make a tree in secondary and tertiary colors--that was lots of fun. Naming the new colors was the best part, though!

On my blog, here: http://wp.me/p2H1i-1K4

Thanks to all of you for being so inspiring!

[Helen]

I finally got round to this month's challenge, I just didn't know how at first. Found mixes of watercolor in old drawings and named them. I am looking at what the other crusaders have been doing. Awesome!

[Regina]

http://rgrdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/07/summer-treats-palette-gpp-crusade-no-53.html

Though my heart is to create a new palette page, I went back through my paint reference journal and shared one yummy sample from last year. It was fun coming up with names along a theme.
Thanks for the prompt.
Not giving up on the new palette, either and will share it when I can.
xo

[Cath S]

Great fun on a cold winter's day - thanks Michelle. http://cathsheard.wordpress.com/2011/07/23/colour-my-world/

[Michelle Brown]

I had SO much fun the first time I had to have another go.

Introducing Regal Teal...

http://aztecmichelle.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/gpp-no53-mad-scientists-take-ii/

Happy creating & Crusading!

[Lay Hoon]

I missed out few GPP, would love to be in crusader team again
http://mescrap.blogspot.com/2011/07/aj-week-22-mad-artist-crusade-53.html

Bravo Michelle for the great prompt.

[Pam Holladay]

You are indeed the "Mad Mixing Girl". Thanks for the fun prompt.

http://pamholladay.blogspot.com/2011/07/crusade-53-color-mixing.html

[viki]

I finall have been able to post my work yay. It was quite eye opening.

[michelle ward]

****************************************************
ANNOUNCEMENT: Hey Crusaders! I am going out of town tomorrow (July 27) and won't be back until August 1st. If you post a link in the comments here I won't be able to add to the list until my return. (I will be in the deep woods of Northern Minnesota with no online connection.) Take advantage of the weekend ahead and try doing some mixing and naming. As you'll see from our fellow participating crusaders, it has been a fun challenge! See you next week.
****************************************************

[Mona]

Here it is my attempt at valiantly crusade again ...
http://alcorart.blogspot.com/2011/07/crusade-no-53-mad-scientist.html

[Tammy]

Here's my color mixing extravaganza! I used watercolors to explore and play: http://daisyyellow.squarespace.com/vividlife/gpp-crusade-no-53-mad-scientist.html.

[Cath S]

Michelle the link for Viki isn't working for me. Are you able to check it? Sorry to be a pain!

[Melanie Philpott]

Hallo!

Thank you again for the fabulous Tyvek. I used it to try out no.39 again and then used what I did in no.39 for no.53!

http://messbymelanie.blogspot.com/2011/07/gpp-street-team-crusade-no53.html

Hope you're having a great time away!

xx

[Marie Z Johansen]

I had some other plans in the works for this marvelous theme crusade but then, last week found out that my job has been eliminated and, try as I might, pulling myself out of the hole has been difficult - this was one of my early experiments for this.Not my best work but I had fun with it anyway. These Crusades really help keep me focused. Thanks so much Michelle! I would be lost without these monthly challenges that no one presents better than you do !

http://mzjohansen.blogspot.com/2011/08/michelle-ward-crusade-53-mad-scientist.html

[Chris]

Hi, Michelle! I have 53 up, now!

http://parabolicmuse.blogspot.com/2011/08/mad-scientist-gpp-crusade-53.html

Thanks,
Chris