Nature produces perfect color schemes. And I spend a lot of time considering them. If I am outdoors with you, and you find yourself repeating what you are saying a lot, it is because I am distracted. I am noticing the shades of green in foliage, the browns in branches and the blues in the sky. Or as in the case of rainy today: the grays in the sky. I simply cannot help myself.
The sky can produce the most wonderful shades of gray. Complex, heavy, moody and yellow. That’s right, I said yellow. Perhaps it is the sun we know to be hiding behind the water suspended in the sky, but I noticed today that the key to a genuine sky gray may be the tiniest addition of yellow tones.
Using gray in decorating successfully requires a color as complex as those provided by nature. Simply lightened black looks dull because it is. There is a world of color out there. Take off your sunglasses and pay attention.
I found these beauties on Flickr:
8 Comments
I never wore sunglasses either until recently. I hate them. Then my opthalmologist talked to me about cataracts and macular degeneration. Still hate sunglasses, but now I wear them.
oh dear…I have my ears covered–er–eyes covered and I can’t hear you. lol. My granny had both of these. I am going to the eye doctor on Friday. I hope I hear none of this…
Yes, Denise, it’s true. Not wearing sunglasses produces, ultimately, the dreaded cataracts which will prevent us from seeing all those subtle colors at all…
I always try to find sunglasses with gray lenses because I can’t stand the way brown ones distort the colors. Not wearing sunglasses can also eventually cause wrinkles too!
OMG you all are killing me! Look, I just had a mini breakdown,(known to some as a birthday) and all this talk of wrinkles and cataracts is about to send me straight to a full fledged more-than-mid-life crisis!!
Everything else aside, your article and photos are wonderful.
I can’t go out of the house with out sunglasses….remember the time I had them on at your place??? We were inside! However I think Sauvignon Blanc might have had something to do with it! I hope I don’t have what granny had!!
Oh yea, Sis, I remember that…wait which time? lol. Diane, thanks for the nice words and Cyndy, I guess I better get gray lenses…