Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Silhouettes at Sunset

Silhouettes at Sunset color scheme from Clever Chameleon

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Colour resources for your next eye-catching quilt design

“Halo” and “Welkam” to my second Vanuatu edition of Colour Inspiration Tuesday! Actually it is a combined Colour Inspiration Tuesday and Everyday Quilt Inspiration post. Like last week’s regular slots, this post was largely pre-written in Australia due to uncertainty about how much time and internet I would have for blogging here in Vanuatu. But I have added some extra material to make this post also fit the 31 Days writing challenge I am doing. I hope it gels ok.

“Halo” and “Welkam” is pretty much the extent of my knowledge of the Bislama language. And “Tangkyu tumas” (Thank you very much). But thankfully English usually suffices here, the Vanuatu scenery is beautiful, and this week, the weather is superb. Just like today’s quilt inspiration colour board, Silhouettes at Sunset.

Silhouettes at Sunset color scheme from Clever Chameleon

Colour Inspiration Tuesday: Silhouettes at Sunset

The “Silhouettes at Sunset” colour scheme is purple, orange, peach, grey, aqua, teal and super dark teal. Isn’t it amazing how the form of a dark silhouette brings out the colours in a sunset? This contrast is something that we should be aiming for in our quilt fabric choices too….. that is if you are after a bold, brilliant effect. (I am fully cognisant that sometimes subtle and low volume is the right choice for a quilt too…. I just personally usually prefer bright.) And isn’t it nice to be reminded that silhouettes don’t have to be black… any high contrast will be effective, in this case a dark shade of teal.

Silhouettes at Sunset evokes thoughts of warm tropical evenings and beach holidays. Perfect to celebrate a trip to Vanuatu, even if it is for work. Would you like to know more about the humanitarian telecommunications side of our family’s pursuits? When things get back to normal I would love to tell you more.

Anyway, back to the task at hand…. It strikes me that “Silhouettes at Sunset” is very much like the love child of “Sunset Wall” and “Another World Blue”. Two colour schemes from earlier editions of Colour Inspiration Tuesday.

So for my Colour Inspiration Tuesday quilt imaginings this week I have decided to see what happens when we colour the Cat on a Wall quilt design with the Silhouettes at Sunset colour scheme. Here is the original design in both parent colour ways.

Cat on a Wall Quilt design

And here are my new colourings. I also added in an eighth colour from the sunset photo – a rose pink. I only meant to do one re-colouring of Cat on a Wall, but I had to amuse myself on the plane to Vanuatu somehow!

Cat on a Wall quilt design, 3 colour schemes

Which do you prefer? One of the new ones or one of the originals? Or would you choose a completely different colour scheme for this quilt? Please tell in the comments below. 🙂

Credit

I really appreciate the talented photographers who generously donate their art to the world without strings attached. Today’s such photos are from Unsplash.com. Unsplash is a collection of free, high resolution, “do what you want with” photos. Credit is not demanded but I give it anyway in thanks. Today’s featured photographer is Aldain Austria. Be sure to check out his collection of photos on Unsplash.

Aldain Austria

blue Clever Chameleon logo

I hope you will tell me which your preferred colours are….

Before I go though, I had better add in some everyday quilt inspiration. This one is easy – there have been many “sunset and silhouettes” moments in my life that I have thought at the time would make great art. We are fortunate in Adelaide to get lots of great sunsets over the gulf. I distinctly remember one such moment when I was heavily pregnant with my second child. I was sitting on the beach, watching my husband and eldest daughter (2 years at the time) jump the wavelets, silhouetted against the setting sun. That is a moment that would definitely be quilt-worthy.

Anyway, here are some more recent silhouettes at sunset. These were taken the second night we arrived here in Port Vila.

Sunset and ships, Port Villa Vanuatu — Ships in harbour at sunset, Port Vila

Sunset and silhouettes. Vanuatu — Enjoying the warm tropical waters.

And to finish off – your everyday colour inspiration board…..

Silhouettes at Sunset, Port Vila color scheme from Clever Chameleon

See you for more Everyday Quilt Inspiration fun tomorrow. In the meantime, if you haven’t been following along, you can find the start of this series here.

P.S. On a completely different topic, I must tell you, the Art with Fabric blog hop is ON! It started yesterday (although that might still be today in your time zone…..) Anyway, my post on the hop is not until Friday 13, but there is a huge lineup ahead of me. Visit Tweety Loves Quilting to see the blog hop from the very beginning.

Here’s a sneak preview of my art piece…. it’s called “Remember to thank the Cleaner (Shrimp)”. It’s art with gratitude. 🙂

Art with Fabric blog hop @ tweloquilting.blogspot.com

October 8, 2017January 19, 2024

Everyday Quilt Inspiration: Tanna Island Quilt

Mt Yasur volcano color scheme from Clever Chameleon

31 Days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in Real Life

Yesterday, I told you about our adventures on Tanna Island, and served you up some colour inspiration straight from the depths of Mt. Yasur. I hope you got a sense of how spectacular the volcano tour was. It would be a shame not to honour that experience with a full attempt at quilt inspiration.

Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 8

Mt Yasur colour scheme from Clever Chaneleon Today being Sunday has given me more time to work on this post than most days. So I have happily been working on translating my volcano quilt idea mentioned yesterday into a visual representation to show you today.

First, I gathered the inspiration photos I needed. Apart from the ridiculously large colour board from yesterday, I also needed some visual references for the sea surrounding Tanna Island and the jungle that grows right up to the base of the volcano.

Here are the photos that I chose:

Jungle on Tanna Island, Vanuatu — The jungle on Tanna Island.

At the base of Mt Yasur — The rock formations and grey sides of the Mt Yasur volcano.

Tanna Island beach — The coast of Tanna Island, with volcanic sand beach.

How was I inspired by Tanna Island?

I wanted to capture all of the colours of Tanna Island in a design that could be pieced into a quilt. I thought the design should be evocative of both the volcano and the other areas of Tanna Island.

Tanna Island quilt design by Clever Chameleon — My Tanna Island quilt idea

So, I set up a grid of half-square triangles and coloured them in to represent the ocean, the sands, the jungle, the sides of Mt Yasur, the ash/steam and sulphur plumes, and the after-dark fireworks show. To tie it all together and add interest, I set myself the goal of having a secondary design. I used colour value contrast to create the illusion of diamonds and zigzags throughout the design.

Quilting Tanna Island?

I am not sure that I will ever get to making this Tanna Island quilt. One Vanuatu quilt on the go is probably quite enough! And while it is a simple matter to design a quilt with so many colours, it is quite another to translate it into real fabrics. This design would be a BIG project. But all that said, not all inspiration needs to be acted upon to be useful or good. Every time you stretch yourself to think outside your usual quilting habits you grow your skills and reinforce resources to draw on in the future. Ideas have a habit of percolating until they are needed one day. I’ll be letting “Tanna Island” percolate for a time. 🙂

What about you? Do you keep a journal or record of quilt ideas you might like to explore one day? In some ways, that is what this 31 days of everyday quilt inspiration slot is becoming for me. An ideas journal, with you to keep me focused on getting the ideas recorded. Thanks for being here!

P.S. The latest Art with Fabric Blog Hop starts tomorrow! FInally! My post is on Friday, but you can find the rest of the week’s itinerary in the meantime at Tweety Loves Quilting. It should be a really interesting collection. See you there! 🙂

October 7, 2017January 19, 2024

Everyday Quilt Inspiration: Mt. Yasur Volcano

Mt Yasur Sunset color scheme from Clever Chameleon

31 Days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in Real Life

Now, I realise that calling today’s Everyday Quilt Inspiration slot “everyday” might be a little far fetched…… There are only a handful of the people in the world who can genuinely call watching Mt Yasur erupt an everyday experience. But, if you can walk away from an active but relatively friendly volcano and not be inspired in some way, then you are a hard nut to crack! And inspired I was! So today we are exploring volcanoes.

Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 7

Yesterday’s adventure started with a fly-over of Mt Yasur on the way to Tanna Island. This is what Mt Yasur looks like from the air. We did get to see lava in the crater as we banked over, but photos were difficult from the tail end of the little Cessna Air Taxi.

Mt Yasur from the air — Mt Yasur, Vanuatu

The landscape around Mt Yasur is often described as lunar. It certainly feels like nothing else I have ever experienced. It is surreal leaving footprints in the fine grey ash.

When you get to the top of the volcano, you are greeted by plumes of smoke and steam, smells of sulphur, and lots of noise. But not a lot of visible lava activity. It was nerve-racking to begin with…. the path around the top was not particularly wide, and the sudden noises from the volcano set off my flight responses continuously. In addition to the threatening bangs and rumbles, I’d just trekked through a field of cooled lava bombs. At some point it dawned on me that sometimes the volcano is not friendly. Indeed, yesterday the volcano was at it’s maximum activity allowed before the tours are cancelled.

Looking out from Mt Yasur — Thankfully, when the volcano gets too overwhelming, the view in the opposite direction is spectacular too.

How was I inspired by the Mt Yasur Volcano?

As the sun set, the colours of the lava became visible. Imagine our excitement when we first saw the volcano’s heart.

By the end of the evening, when it was truly dark, the show was spectacular. I forgot to be afraid. Pure awe took over.

I could have watched this beast for hours. It was absolutely mesmerising.

Mt Yasur Explosion color scheme from Clever Chameleon

I took a lot of photos. Many were rubbish. It is hard to photograph an unpredictable volcano with whirly-whirlies spiting dust and stones at you. But there are a few shots that I will treasure forever.

Mt Yasur Fireworks color scheme from Clever Chameleon

And there are a few more that are not brilliant from a photography perspective, but the colours are amazing. One of my favourite photos is the one from the colour board at the top of this post. The focus is slightly off, but the mood is phenomenal. Have you ever considered that a photograph does not have to be technically brilliant to be a great source of inspiration? Especially if you are after colours!

A Mount Yasur Quilt in the offing?

Colour boards are all I have time for today, but there is an actual quilt idea percolating in my head from yesterday’s experiences. I think a real volcano can warrant two days of quilt inspiration, don’t you? I will try to get my idea down “on paper” for tomorrow’s Everyday Quilt Inspiration spot. If not, I will surprise you with something else. 🙂

I am also putting these colour boards into my ideas folder for the black, white and red Vanuatu-inspired quilt that I am planning for the Splash of Colour quilt-along. Most appropriate!

What about you? Do you use your photographs for craft colour inspiration? Are you able to look past the subject matter and/or your photography skills to see the colours? You might be surprised at what you find in your happy snaps if you look at them with a different mindset. Why not try putting a few photos through a free online program like Canva’s Palette Generator just for fun? But beware….. it’s addictive!

I hope you’ll be back here again tomorrow. You can follow along by email or Bloglovin’ to make sure you catch the entire 31 days of my Everyday (and occasionally extraordinary day) Quilt Inspiration series.

You can also find lots more 31 day series on all sorts of topics at the Write 31 Days website here. A great way to get a feel for lots of bloggers you may not have noticed before. Thanks for coming by!

October 6, 2017January 19, 2024

Everyday Quilt Inspiration: Coconut Lorikeet

Coconut Lorikeet colour scheme from Clever Chameleon

31 Days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in Real Life

Yesterday we treated ourselves to lunch at a resort, situated just past one of the Vanuatu villages where we are working to develop emergency telecommunications. It turned out to be a good idea, as the owner is an Aussie who was able to help us out with quite a variety of local intel.

While we were waiting for lunch, my next quilting inspiration wandered up to greet us (actually to try to steal our soft drinks and our shoe laces).

Coconut lorikeet eyeing off soft drink — A moment after this shot, that empty coke can was toast.

Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 6

The resort has two pet lorikeets, who wander among the guests biting shoelaces and climbing backpacks. I admit, at the time I assumed they were rainbow lorikeets like the birds we have back at home in Australia. They are indeed similar in size and colour and behave just as poorly: loud, rude and bossy! But now looking at the photos, it is clear that they have a different colour pattern that is more muted than the Australian rainbow lorikeet. I believe they are a subspecies of Coconut Lorikeet.

coconut lorikeet in glass — Bottom’s up! Clearly these birds have partied before!

Coconut Lorikeet on backpack — Smug success…. yes, you are well aware you aren’t welcome on the backpack, bird!

How was I inspired by the Coconut Lorikeet?

Because these characters were so persistent about sharing our resources, I had plenty of opportunity to take all sorts of photos. And it will definitely be fun to create appliqués from some of the poses. Like I did for the hermit crab yesterday. Sadly I don’t have time to mock you up an example at the moment, so you will have to settle for a colour board and some cheeky bird pictures so I can go to bed. Here’s one last picture of the lorikeets checking out Paul’s telecommunications equipment.

Coconut Lorikeets attacking a mesh extender — Paul wanted a photo of the birds on his telecommunications box. They tested the antennas just like their Australian cousins would. But they were super unimpressed and moved on straight away.

The Coconut Lorikeets were pretty funny and annoying all at the same time….. much like a pair of toddlers on too much sugar!

See you again tomorrow!

P.S. You can find the start of my 31 Days of Everyday Quilt Inspiration blog post series here. Or you can find the Write 31 Days website here, for hundreds more 31-day series on all sorts of topics. Enjoy!

October 5, 2017January 19, 2024

Everyday Quilt Inspiration: Hermit Crabs

Hermit Crabs color scheme from Clever Chameleon

31 Days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in Real Life

Yesterday we stopped for a picnic lunch at a little spot where the beach is accessible, between the two Vanuatu villages we are working in.

Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday: Day 5

Hermit crabs in Vanuatu

Once we had settled and stopped moving around, we discovered that the pebbly beach was swarming with tiny hermit crabs. The smallest were wearing shells of less than half an inch long. The biggest one we found was less than an inch and a half in length. They were fast and shy, disappearing instantly if anyone moved suddenly or cast a shadow over them. Of course, hermit crabs are a novelty to my family. But they are everyday critters for the Ni-Vanuatu villagers here.

How was I inspired by the Hermit Crabs?

Hermit crabs in Vanuatu Well, while the kids ruined their shoes by getting “unintentionally” wet in the ocean, I amused myself by trying to get photos of the tiny, speedy hermit crabs. When I looked at the photos later, I thought several might make good starting points for appliqué designs.

So here is my first mock-up of a design for a hermit crab appliqué from the photo above.

Hermit Crab appliqué design by Clever Chameleon

For the most part I traced the approximate shapes of the crab from the photo.

What about you? Do you use your photos to help you draw appliqués? If you are not a confident drawer, taking pictures of your subjects and tracing them is a good way to generate original designs that mean something special to you. Start with a photo of a loved one, a flower from your garden, a piece of fruit, an interesting leaf, a pet, your favourite ornaments…… the everyday objects around you that you could appliqué are almost endless.