Monday, February 27, 2012

Vintage Color Palettes - Biscayne Bay


This refreshing looking postcard was sent from Miami in July 1950. 
The Hex color number are in order, left to right: bec638, 5c6b19, a7e8ee, 60b7c9

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Vintage Color Palettes - When Traveling


A lovely little pamphlet from 1929.  Love the image and the colors. If you are interested in the exact colors here you can use Hex codes in your photo program. They are in order from top to bottom: 
f26666  f59c8f  154d76  186599


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

winter landscapes

I really like the winter landscapes. I like the spindly trees and the open skies, the dried up plants and withered branches.  A couple of weeks a go I took a drive out to the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge and spent a couple of hours driving the course (you have to stay in your car). I drove slow with the windows down and listened to the birds, frogs, wind and rain. I mostly saw the same wildlife I have seen before: nutrias, hawks, great blue herons, canadian geese, tundra swans and many other birds and ducks. I really love this place. It's a treat any time of year.





Above you can see a red tail hawk in the tree there.






A Great Blue Heron


I ended the day in Portland with a warm meal at a Vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant. A wonderful end to an edifying day.


Sunday, February 19, 2012

Vintage Color Palettes - Lily of the Valley Scrap

A beautiful piece of scrap, most likely from 1890-1915. These were given away by companies and were collected by many people. Pretty images were tacked on walls, put on mirrors and pasted in scrapbooks.
This one is an especially beautiful combo.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Vintage Color Palettes - The Bouganvillea


Introducing: Vintage Color Palettes

At the heart of so much that I love - design, decor, paper, art, vintage - is color. That's what moves me the most. It has since I was a kid and I would color in my coloring book and delight in decorating the bedroom in Charlie Brown's room in color combos that I had never thought of before. I actually remember when I "discovered" that pink and spring green looked great together. Those were some great curtains old Chuck got that day.

The first thing that made me swoon over vintage postcards was the lovely combination of colors that were on some of them. I noticed this a lot in old fabric, too. The colors all seemed different than ones that are used now. There are only so many colors in the world, but the vintage ones on old postcards, brochures and barkcloth all seemed deeper, dustier and a little more pungent. Was this because the dyes were different then or had they aged into these colors? If we could go back in time and buy a postcard new would it look like the ones we have now?

I have noticed some color palettes on the internet for modern images and it gave me the idea to finally document the colors and combos that I love about my collection of vintage postcards and ephemera.

I will post them here regularly. To start off. here are two - Fifth Avenue and Boston Duck Pond. Maybe these can help you plan some color combos for an event, room or a website. But, really it's just for fun. And if you like color like I do, I'm guessing you'll get that.



Monday, February 13, 2012

love poems

Valentines are so pretty and charming. It's so hard to pick just one. But, if you haven't gotten one or made yours yet, you might be starting to panic a bit. But, don't fear, there are lots and lots of printable valentines online. Just a search on Pinterest shows quite a few choices.

My new favorite are these printable (or ecards) created by Poets.org. Even if you don't use the image, the poems are a great thing to add to your valentine message.

This top one is great for those of us in the Pacific Northwest!




What a great way to showcase poetry and reach more people. You can see all the choices here. Also, if you are looking for a longer poem. They have a whole list of love poems here.


On a totally unrelated note. I recently did an interview with the website Twenty-Four Hours. You can find the interview here.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

stand for every body

For the last few weeks I've been helping out, along with about 35 other activists, in creating images that are being created in response to a hateful childhood anti-obesity campaign that is being run in Georgia.

The campaign, called, Strong4Life, thinks images like the one below are somehow going to actually help kids.


All images and messages like this are going to do is create shame and self-loathing. Shame and self-loathing are the basis of so many disorders, including eating disorders, substance abuse and depression, something a campaign like this is sure to create. How can anyone think that this is a good way to make children or their parents create healthy self-esteem and healthy eating. It is tragically misguided and just infuriating.

Many people feel this way and a campaign was started by fat activist rebel Marilyn Wann. She invited anyone who wanted to to submit a photo and a statement about what they stand for in response to Strong4Life campaign. The photos came pouring in and she couldn't keep up. So, many photoshop users, including myself, happily donated our time to help get these images out there. You can see them all on the site I Stand Against Weight Bullying. Here are a few of the many that I adore:




Funds are being raised to buy billboards in Georgia near the billboards that the Strong4Life campaign is running. There is a donor who will give $5,000 of we can get 155 more donors to give $5.00. Over 10,000 was raised in one day on Feb 2nd, but more funds are needed. Please give if you can.





There have been many new stories and blog posts about the campaign. You can keep up on the facebook  group page. Recently there have been article on Ms Magazine Blog and Salon.

You can also find lots of information on the Stand4Everybody site.  If you would like to participate in the campaign. You can send a large image of yourself and your statement to marilyn at fatso dot com.


Monday, February 6, 2012

february


This is an illustration from a book from my childhood. This is the kind of illustration that made me long for "normal" weather as a child. Lakes never froze over in the Southern California beach town I grew up in.  February of my childhood was actually not that much different than May.

This winter has been more like a So Cal winter than a Portland one. The last couple of weeks has been sunny and windy. 

But, it is February (which I also have to look up each time I spell it) and that means Valentines Day. I just found this super sweet illustration and poem in the same A Child's Book of Poems.


Are you looking for Valentine inspiration?  If so, I keep a list on pinterest of my fave Valentines ideas

Happy February!






Sharing is Caring