Color and Inspiration

Yawn! Mondays are so slow. Where's the coffee? I need more coffee.

I've been looking through my gems to find the perfect fit for the Art Bead Scene challenge for August. The inspiration piece is a well known painting by the name of Great Wave off of Kanagawa. It's very simplistic but holds such beauty and meaning. The colors are my favorite. A bit neutral with some deep blues thrown in. I'm thinking of sea glass with a nice charm. Simple but elegant.

So, what are your favorite color combinations? Do you actually follow the color fashion trends by Pantone or go for what you like? Where do you usually find your inspiration for color combinations? Shopping for clothes? Looking at paint samples? Staring at a color wheel? Checking out the neighbor's flowers? I tend to throw different beads together in a container and see which ones compliment each other. I don't really follow any color rules. I guess I go for what I like and what I know I would wear. As you can tell by looking at my jewelry, I tend to be more simplistic using only a few colors at a time. I hope with time I can learn to be more adventurous.

Ok, I'm moving slow today. I have one item ready to go to the shop. I'll probably have another this afternoon. This one comes from reading "Bead on a Wire" by Sharilyn Miller. Sharon from Livewire Jewelry suggested this one to me and I'm so glad she did. Thanks, Sharon!

Molten Lava
Beautiful Botswana agate chunks cagged in heavy sterling wire. Check out this color! When I saw the orange and silver together with a touch of the gray I immediately thought of lava and how it's first a bright orange and then cools to gray and then black.

This was loads of fun to make so I'll probably be playing with wire much more often if my pocket book will allow it. Make the best of your Monday!