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When I snap a pic that for some reason I just really like, it's often because there's just "something" about the captured colours. Picking out these colours is one of my favourite ways to come up with new colour palettes for pattern designs. For example, here is a photo I took at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk while on a coastal roadtrip to California in June, and I just really love this pic of a vintage-inspired ride. So I picked out some gorgeous colours to create a new palette...Expect to see these colours in a new design! How do you come up with new colour palettes? Do you use your photos too? 
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I entered my "Cow Parsley" design in this week's Spoonflower "In the Weeds" Design Challenge! But you know me, I had to try it out in a BUNCH of colours! Although the first version below is the one I entered in the Challenge (link to the Voting Page HERE), now that I'm seeing them altogether, I'm not sure which one I prefer?! Anyway, the first one is the only one I had finished before the deadline, and all the colours are now available in my "Cow Parsley" Collection in my Spoonflower Shop on Fabrics, Wallpaper and Home Decor in 3 sizes, so I guess it doesn't matter which one I prefer?! Although I'd be interested to know which one YOU prefer...
This Week's Spoonflower Design Challenge: "Petal Coordinates Limited Color Palette: Candy"!3/10/2022 The idea behind this week's Spoonflower "Petal Coordinates Limited Color Palette: Candy" Design Challenge was to create a pattern design using the 3 given colors of Cotton Candy, Lilac and Seaglass with optional Black and White (I love these kinds of challenges!) Here is my entry, "It's A Jungle Out There"! Voting is open now until March 15, and you can check out all the entries at the Voting Page! BTW: This floral now comes in a bunch of other colourways too...Of course, I couldn't resist the opportunity to play with colour! Check out all the colourways HERE!     I'm participating in a very fun and inspiring pattern design project which is launching today...the "Collectively Independent Spring 2022" Collection on Spoonflower! For this project, 59 Designers from 14 Countries used 1 Colour Palette to create 1079 (!) Pattern Designs, all organized into 6 Sub-Collections: HERO PATTERNS, FLORALS, BASICS, PLAID, BLENDERS and CHECKS. Because each of us pattern designers had the freedom to design whatever we wanted to fit within each Sub-Collection (each designer was limited to 5 designs per Sub-Collection), there's a fabulous mix of themes and styles (I have my eye on some favourites!), but all are united by the single chosen colour palette. So it's a snap to MIX & MATCH different patterns for your next project, whether you need Fabrics, Wallpaper or Home Decor! There really is something for every taste! I might suggest you have a look at the HERO PATTERNS and FLORALS first, then start adding BASICS, PLAID, BLENDERS and CHECKS to round out your project. And maybe you should "limit" your time since once you start looking you might not be able to stop! Have FUN! THE COLOUR PALETTE The chosen colour palette consists of 7 beautiful colours. Some designers used all 7 colours in their designs and some used only a few. To see more from the Designers, be sure to check out #designerspr22 on Instagram!  HERO PATTERNS Here are the 5 patterns I submitted to the HERO PATTERNS Sub-Collection which also contains handy and useful Solid Colours too! Check out the HERO PATTERNS Sub-Collection HERE!
FLORALS Always one of my favourite themes, check out the designs I submitted to the FLORALS Sub-Collection! Check out the FLORALS Sub-Collection HERE!
BASICS and PLAID The BASICS Sub-Collection includes Geometrics, Stripes, Chevrons, Dots, and the like. Have a look at the BASICS Sub-Collection HERE and the PLAID Sub-Collection HERE for some beautiful co-ordinating patterns!
I didn't submit designs to the BLENDERS and CHECKS Sub-Collections, but be sure to check them out too! The Spoonflower "Collectively Independent Spring 2022" Collection
FAST FACTS: 1 Colour Palette 7 Colours 59 Designers 14 Countries 1079 Designs 6 Sub-Collections Be sure to check out #designerspr22 on Instagram for more! If you create something with any of the designs in this "Collectively Independent Spring 2022" Collection, please do tag me @unblinkstudio or send me a pic so I can see the results! Happy choosing and creating! It's 2021! And it's time to give you my overview of the 2021 Colors of the Year as chosen by various decor and paint companies, most notably Pantone. Whether or not you follow trends, I thought it would be fun (and maybe useful?) for you to see some of these all here in one place, with samples of how I've used them in my own pattern designs. Not surprisingly, most colours were chosen for their uplifting, comforting, calming, soothing, harmonious, optimistic and hopeful properties. If you're a designer looking for ideas and trends, or just someone wanting a 2021 re-fresh (don't we all?), see below. And scroll down to see summaries of how each company describes their 2021 color picks!
PANTONE: They say "Illuminating" ("warming and optimistic") and "Ultimate Gray" ("practical and rock solid") are "A marriage of color conveying a message of strength and hopefulness that is both enduring and uplifting".
GLIDDEN PAINTS: They chose not a Color of the Year, but an ACCENT Color of the Year, "Aqua Fiesta", which they describe as: "Happy and muted, this beautiful color makes a sweet space that is not overly vibrant". BENJAMIN MOORE: They say, "Take a moment to reflect and reset. Intriguing, balanced and deeply soothing...Aegean Teal creates natural harmony". GRAHAM & BROWNE: This is how G&B describes "Epoch": "This rich, deep amethyst" is "associated with royalty as the cost of pigments were so expensive--the color has a calming effect on both the mind and nerves, and it can be uplifting and trigger creativity". HGTV by SHERWIN-WILLIAMS: They say, "Rich and empowering, Passionate is a bold red, that's steeped in history, merging modern design with traditional charm". SHERWIN-WILLIAMS: They say, "Tap into nature with a hue whose warmth and comfort breathe down-to-earth tranquility". And there you have it! If you have a favourite (or not?!), leave a comment here and let me know! My Entry for This Week's Spoonflower "Pine and Mint Throw Pillows" Design Challenge..."Sweet Pea"!3/6/2020 ...And now for something completely different...The idea for this week’s Spoonflower “Pine and Mint Throw Pillows” Design Challenge is to use just the two colours of Pine and Mint (plus black and white) to create a design suitable for throw pillows! Here is my entry called “Sweet Pea”! I originally designed this pattern design in other colours but thought pine and mint would work really well! If you would like to see all the entries, follow this Link to the Voting Page! ADDENDUM! This design won 66th out of 858 entries and as a result, it is immediately available for sale in my Spoonflower Shop on fabric, home decor, wallpaper and more!   I couldn't resist! As you may have noticed, I can't get enough of the 2020 Pantone Color of the Year "Classic Blue"! I was also inspired by this week's Spoonflower "Classic Blue Limited Colour Palette" Design Challenge (see previous Blog post!), so I decided to re-colour (and revise) my "Palace Walls" Collection. Wondering what you think of Classic Blue? Have you been inspired to use it in your designs?! Or maybe you don't really like it...? All designs here are available to license!   I love the limited colour palette design challenges put on by Spoonflower! This week’s “Classic Blue Limited Color Palette” Design Challenge includes the 2020 Pantone Color of the Year "Classic Blue" (which I really, really like!) and 3 other blue shades. I re-coloured my “Mahal” pattern design which was inspired by my travels in India using only the 4 gorgeous shades of blue, and may inspire me to re-colour more of the designs in my "Palace Walls" pattern collection! If you would like to see this week’s entries, be sure to check out the Voting Page!  How fun is this?! Just used the Year of Colour app to create this visualization of the colours I've shared on IG this year (apparently larger bubbles mean I used those colours more). Love those reds, greens, blues, purples, turquoise, raspberry, deep yellow, pumpkin, lime, even a bit of Classic Blue (Pantone's 2020 Colour of the Year)! But I get carried away...HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all, have an art-filled and creative 2020! And you can check out my INSTAGRAM and see for yourself!  Pantone is not the only one to announce a Color of the Year (their "Classic Blue" is getting a lot of buzz though!) Many paint and wallpaper companies also make their trend predictions. I researched a bunch of them and it looks like blue, blush and green are the colours to watch in 2020. Then I couldn't resist raiding my pattern design archive to find matching designs for each colour! Enjoy! Do you have a favourite??! Pantone just announced its choice for Pantone Color of the Year 2020: CLASSIC BLUE! Here is how they describe it: "Instilling calm, confidence, and connection, this enduring blue hue highlights our desire for a dependable and stable foundation on which to build as we cross the threshold into a new era". I must admit a soft spot for blue and have designed many all-blue patterns and illustrations over the years. So I couldn't resist, I had to dig into my pattern archive and see what I could find! While I don't always get the choices for Color of the Year, this one I do like! I have many, many ideas now...stay tuned!  Bronze, Rose, Forest and Spearmint...the four colours in this week's Spoonflower "Limited Colour Palette" Design Challenge (I added optional white too!) Here is my entry, a 1970s inspired floral I call "Bohemia"! With thanks also to the MIID Live Hub for the retro-themed inspiration! Check out the tons of amazing eye candy designs and vote your faves (until July 16)...Link to the Voting Page!  I just started a brand new pattern design course from Victoria Johnson Create Explore called "Create Collections" and have been developing colour palettes and drawing new motifs (butterflies, moths and florals so far!) and thinking about how different types of patterns co-ordinate to make a larger pattern collection. Sometimes it really helps to have someone guide you through their process which really makes you think more deeply about your own design process. So, I started with these two placement prints. I might adjust the colours a bit as I get more into the collection, so stay tuned for more to come! Repeats!
Big THANK YOU to everyone who voted in last week's Spoonflower "Australian Flora" Design Challenge! The RESULTS are just in and my "Eucalyptus" pattern design in this Orange colour palette (check out my Portfolio-Flora page to see two other palettes) squeaked into the Top Ten (I'm listed at #11, but thankfully there was a tie for #9) out of 602 eligible entries! So this design is now available for purchase at Spoonflower on many different fabrics, wallpaper and giftwrap. And see below...you can now buy it on wonderful home decor products at Roostery as well! Again, thank you for your votes! On to the next Design Challenge... 
One of the things we talk alot about in The Colour Gang is, obviously, COLOUR: where and how to get inspiration for colour palettes, what colours are on-trend (or will be) and why, what colour palettes do we like to work with and are characteristic of our unique styles, and how different colour palettes can change the look of a design completely. So one of the things we love to do is try our pattern designs with different colours, for example (which do you like best?!)...
OH and I thought you might like to see some of the photos of flowers from my garden that inspired this collection!
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AuthorJackie Tahara of UnBlink Studio Archives
September 2022
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All images on this website are Copyright © Jackie Tahara. All rights reserved.
If sharing, pinning or blogging my images, please always credit me and link back to my website. Supporting artists is a good thing to do! Thank you!
If sharing, pinning or blogging my images, please always credit me and link back to my website. Supporting artists is a good thing to do! Thank you!