Project Spectrum: Elements

Already in the third year Lolly (Lauren) with her worth visiting blog is putting up Project Spectrum.

This means that 2 months of 2008 are dedicated to certain colors and/or a combination of all three. This year they are combined with one of the four (western) elements.

FEBRUARY / MARCH - FIRE- orange, red, pink

APRIL / MAY - EARTH - green, brown, metallics

JUNE / JULY - AIR - gray, white, yellow

AUGUST / SEPTEMBER - WATER - blue, black, purple

There is no enrolling, no pressure. You can indulge in all kind of material, in all kind of craft and creations. The purpose is getting to know some colors better, working maybe with untypical colors, noticing those colors in one's enviroment more, trying out new arts ..........

You can post whatever you feel right for the topic on your blog, in a flickr groupravelry. and on

What caught me most is the Artist Trading Card Swap that also takes place, each separately for each element. I don't know why I feel so attracted to this now. Not at all have I been inspired by mixed media, by art postcards, by swaps so far.
I would guess it's a mixture of my interests in colors, my everlasting interest in the elements and the ideas and skills I got through the months of BeadJournalProject I have participated. (I signed out, because I couldn't follow my ideas and the topic. I'm more of an allrounder in all kinds.)
So far I have not enrolled in the Swap because I want to be sure to manage and the next weeks will be very busy with all sorts of nice adventures on the weekends. But I sneaked out half an hour here, twenty minutes there and worked on one of these tiny cards. I was so surprised when I actually knew it (6,5 x 8,5 cm). Fine for me, I like to do it on a small scale.
My material I take out of my drawers as the ideas fall out of my head. So far I've used felt, silk, cotton, beads and knitted a bit, .

I wonder where my craft creation craziness I'm more and more experiencing will lead to.

What else do I think of:

• - Buying myself Michael Freemans book on color for photographers.(german, english) Studying the according chapters.
  
  
• - Reading the chapters on red and orange in Victoria Finlay's book on colors that has been with me (unread) for a year now. (german, english)
  
  
• - Checking out and learning about color levels and curves for red etc. in Photoshop.
  
  
• - Going through my digital photos for pictures of sunsets/sunrises. I love both and the sun is the fire in the sky.
  
  
• - I already got color cards for coloring walls and furniture last weekend and put them in my studio. Need to take a picture and post it.
  
  
• - Same goes for the socks I knitted a while ago. I don't wear self-knitted socks and I don't want to post a lot about socks, but I like to knit them and this yarn is special. More later.
  
  
• - Red and orange are not "my" colors, so I won't create anything for myself. In the pink hue I worked a lot in 2007. In lack of new photos I show you some old pictures I've posted already before on my flickr.

As for the fire element itself it is not the very right season. When I think of fire I think of the tiny ones we made out of scrub in front of our tent in the cold desert nights or I think of summer campfires with friends. I'll keep my eyes and other senses open for fire around me in the next weeks. There has been a terrible fire yesterday in Germany that killed and injured many people. Yes, that is the destructive side of fire. So sorry for the people.

I would be more than happy if you drop me a short note, a mail, a comment if you are interested in Project Spectrum Elements or are already taking part in it.
I'm writing my blog as kind of a diary for myself but internet is on the same side all about international communication for me. If you don't want to write in English please feel free to use other languages.

Happy creating!