Life is Colorful

I love so many things. Meeting new people, new foods, new music, new ways of designing things, new ideas, new ways of thinking, new experiences. Although being intrigued by colors is nothing new for a designer, it is a big part of how I express myself and my love of all the things.

Colors can have a huge impact on our state of mind and the way we experience the world. Like having a drink in a brightly colored bar that’s punctuated by energetic music, or going to a spa that uses a soothing, analogous set of blues to prepare you for relaxation.

When looking at other art and designs, I gravitate towards those that use colors in interesting ways.

A painting where experimented with fun, curly trees and a strong, complementary color palette.

I love the color and texture of Leonid Afremov’s work

Georgia O’Keefe’s work is among my favorites

Getting back into drawing has been great (and I am determined to learn how to draw people!), but I was soon itching to add some color. Even if it was monochromatic. Even to an imperfect drawing. Just something!

So what’s easier to draw than people that I could quickly add color to? Inktober inspired me to search for “creepy trees” and I found some interesting examples of banyan and other trees that are wonderfully twisted and shadowed.

Instead of the neutral, natural palettes of many photos, I added blues, pinks, oranges, and purples. I also wanted to test out this mixed media paper and see how much water it could hold.

I used a combination of Inktense pencils, water soluble colored pencils, markers, and pen. I didn’t worry about shadows or light, just the color and texture of the tree and surrounding water.

Overall, I was very happy with this experiment. I especially enjoyed playing around with reflections in the water. My next step is to practice more purposefully with watercolors.