I'm preparing a notebook all about color schemes, for our workshop in October and my co-instructor, Judith Cassel-Mamet ​is always talking about why analogous color schemes are the best choice for a workshop— everyone likes the outcome.

There are more adventurous paths — like split-complimentary, diads, triads, tetrads, etc but these schemes we hope our students will experiment on their own.

Color is an amazing topic.  Something you can study for your entire life.  You can see from this photo of nature, how analogous colors really work together, creating a calming effect.

Playing with color is an important theme in my art.  Me?  I like jewel tones.  What about you?

I was happy to be juried into the 34th Annual New Legacies exhibit in the art gallery at Lincoln Center in Ft. Collins, CO.  I was juried into this exhibit several years ago and won first place for a piece I had made from a photograph  -- a process I just did once and never again.  This year, I wasn't among the award winners but when I went to the opening reception this Friday, I was really impressed by the high quality of the pieces in the exhibit.  This exhibit garners entries from all over the country (and Canada) so it attracts the best of the best.  Of the 26 artists selected, only 6 live in Colorado.  The content was a mixture of figurative, abstract, sculptural and one floral.  I discovered new artists and the new works of artists I already know and I'll featured their work in the coming weeks.  Meanwhile, if you live in Colorado or are planning a visit, don't miss this exhibit!  

Every 4th of July weekend, I enjoy walking through the Cherry Creek Art Festival, not only to visit my friends who are showing their work there, but also to discover new artists.  Of course, I am always looking for fiber artists who are doing cutting edge work and I found one today — Alice Vander Vennen.  Her fiber work is sculptural and the pieces I saw today were beautifully framed so they would hang on the wall.  Alice considers herself a mixed media artist since she uses so many other things in her work (like twigs, paint, metal, piano parts, and found objects) and she paints, embroiders and stitches to add even more color and texture but fabric is the basis of her compositions.  She has published two portfolios on Blurb and just paging through the books shows the quality and depth of her artistic voice.

Visit her website to enjoy even more of her beautiful art.  Here's a link to an interview she did for World of Threads.