Travel Inspired Quilts

Travel inspired my choice of house colors but it also filled my head with images to use in my art work. This little doorway was in Vernazza, one of the villages of the Cinque Terre. I reproduced the scene in a little piece I call 11 Via Pegunia. I've often wondered if I mailed this to the occupants, what would they think?

This piece, also small, was really fun to make. I happened to be in Venice on a national holiday and the flag of Venice was flying in front of St. Mark's cathedral. It was such a grand day. I call this one St. Mark's, Venice.

Travel Inspiration

The last post mentioned color inspiration from my travels. This color combination of pumpkin with dark green shutters was everywhere in Italy in 2007. It must have been the latest fashion in house colors.

This next image was found on a back street in Venice so bold color combination is nothing new either. I loved the texture on these walls as much as I loved the rich colors.

I wouldn't recommend adding stripes to wall decor but my hats off to the painter that did this.

Do you suppose the person who painted this wall knew what the bougainvillea would look like when it was in bloom? I hope so. It wouldn't be hard to find this house.

Okay, now we're just getting silly!

Welcome to My Home

Summer can go by so quickly that I sometimes feel like I missed it. I have not felt that effect quite as dramatically this year, but time has blurred, nevertheless. It's been raining the last few days and the evenings get chilled almost as fast as the sun slides below the horizon. Ahhh, time to blog once again.

By now some of you may have noticed I enjoy color. Studying color has provided endless fascination and new learning opportunities for me. I LOVE strong color combination and, the more unusual the better. I can't make any claims to being a color expert but I have been having fun putting color on the walls of my house lately. There's joy in color, too. Here is the first wall you see upon entering my home. Enjoy the tour.

I really went for warm and bold in the bedroom. I should say that I have not painted these colors on all four walls of the room. Each room gets only one accent wall. The rest are painted a light taupe that stands nicely next to the bolder colors.

I'm very influenced in my color choices by some of the traveling that I have enjoyed over the years. The colors of southern France and northern Italy were so powerful and, in some cases, exaggerated, that I couldn't wait to bring those same tones into my everyday life. The kitchen wall got a nice coat of what I can only call Provence yellow.

I went for a little quieter tone in the living room, but no less dramatic. Who doesn't like chocolate?

Wasabi green. Nice name. Great color. This one got onto more than one wall. When the long rainy days of an Oregon winter get here, I'll be ready with inside sunshine.