Generate Your Own Color Palette

This is a tool that I am sure a lot of you will find helpful and fun to play around with. A couple of posts back I shared about Design Seed and the amazing color palettes they have. To my surprise I found out an easy way of doing it on Pinterest (via Pepper Ferguson).

With the Color Palette Generator from DeGreave, you can easily find the palette of colors used on any image on the internet. All you have to do is upload the link and it automatically generates the colors for you. I thought the Nena Sanchez painting was a good one to try out. So there you have my experiment. At the bottom you can see what I made out of it for myself using Photoshop.

How are you planning to use this tool?

Alli Paque, an inspirational artist

This story is nothing short of inspiring. It appeared this morning on greenbaypressgazette.com. Her name is Alli Paque, she is 93 and does rosemaling. This is a form of painting on wood with a lot of floral ornamentation, flowing elements that usually creates patterns. It is said to come from Norway, though not certain.

After being discouraged by her father to pursue art as a career, she chose to study business. But life took her back to art later when she was married with children. At some point she even gave classes, which led her to meeting a lot of different people, something she very much enjoys.

Today her schedule consists of doing house work in the morning and then doing rosemaling all afternoon. Most of Ms. Paque's artwork is displayed in her house and those of her relatives. Some are for sale in her daughter's store, but she enjoys rosemaling mostly just for fun.

Isn't it amazing that she never gave up on her dream of becoming an artist, and it is really cool that she still continues to paint even at 93! I love reading about people that are inspiring like this. This is why I am starting an interview series on Thursday called CooCoo Interview. Some amazing people will be featured in it, so be sure not to miss it. See you again on Monday.

Open Atelier Curacao 2011

Today I spend the day visiting different ateliers on the island. They opened their workplaces for the public for these two days. So far it has been a true inspiration to me and just makes me want to create more. Here are some of my favorites. Maybe it will do the same for you.

Top left: No title by Ailsa Anastatia
Top right: Stone tribe sculpture by Ashley Mauricia
Bottom left: Tender II by Midzy Longuevergne
Bottom right: No title by Tanya Haynes

Into the blue

Looking at these pictures you might think that they are awesome underwater photographs. Well, they are actually paintings using mostly oil to complete. The artist Eric Zener from California uses the art of photorealism to achieve these paintings that look exactly like photographs. This type of artwork is done by taking photographs to assemble all the information needed to do a very realistic painting.

I can't pick a favorite. Can you?


Today I guest post on Beach Coast Style about Curacao beaches. Check it out.

Tree crazy

Trees has always been my favorite thing to draw. I have been striving to draw them nicely for years without much luck. Maybe I should take some tips from Lawrence Yang. He is the artist behind these wonderful tree paintings. Some of these have been sold already but his prices range from $200 to $1000. Couldn't choose a favorite so I posted a few. Check out his gallery for more artwork.

Inspiring mess