Color Buzz

The Colors of Food

By Michele Coppin

The color of fruits and vegetables can be as beautiful as the color of flowers. The color combinations and variations are endless as they grow, ripen and mature.  Fruits and vegetables have actually been inspiring artists for centuries. “Food portraits” are known as “still lifes.”

Jan Van Huysum, Still Life with Fruit
Oil on copper, 1720
Rijhsmuseum, Amsterdam

These delicious palettes herald the presence of nutrients. Color indicates the ingredients we need for good health. For example:

REDS are packed with vitamins (A C), protect your heart, maintain good blood pressure, and help to protect against some cancers.

GREENS are packed with vitamins (A,C,B,K), provide a source of iron, and boost your immune system.

YELLOW and ORANGE are packed with vitamins (C and B) that keep you eyes strong, boost your immune system and promote glowing skin.

WHITE, such as cheese and yogurt, is packed with calcium.

Some of my favorites in both appearance and taste are asparagus, baby artichokes, fresh garlic, cheese and bread. A glass of red wine would complement this tableau nicely…

Greens speak of youth, nature, fresh starts and cool mornings. Purples, dark reds and burgundy suggest the end of summer, setting sun, heat, and royalty. These opposites however make a very elegant color combination.

 

                                                   
Tropical foliage 6002 – 6C                               Garden Fresh 6008 – 7C

                                                

Hotel St Francis Sangre de Christo 1010 – 6    Accent Frosty Berry 1003 – 1B

 

What do colors symbolize?

By Michele Coppin

Historically, mankind has given symbolic value to colors. As societies developed, colors came to represent different concepts and served multiple functions. They emphasized certain meanings within an image, indicated status, expressed identity, etc. Of course, these meanings are very different depending on the culture they belong to.

Here are some examples of the meanings of various colors from Western European societies.

White: From the birth of the new moon, often associated with birth, purity, cleanliness. Brides wear white to symbolize innocence and purity.

Black: Mourning, death, earth, seriousness, submission. Priests wear black to signify submission to God.

Red: the most emotional color, red signifies passion and love. Hearts are always red, but red also symbolizes blood, fighting and ardor.

Yellow: Warmth, sun, happiness, gold. Yellow also symbolizes cowardice, betrayal and hatred.

Orange: Warmth, wealth.

Green: Calming and refreshing, it is the color of spring and youth. (Walt Disney dressed Peter Pan in green. As the little boy who wouldn’t grow up, the eternal youth wears a tunic reminiscent of foliage. Green also symbolizes envy. 

Blue: The color of the sky and the ocean. Blue symbolizes sincerity, loyalty, peacefulness and tranquility. Blue also connotes melancholy, sadness and isolation. Picasso’s “Blue Period” began shortly after he moved from Barcelona to Paris. He was poor, depressed and cold. From 1900 to 1904, he primarily painted thin, elongated figures in variations of blue. When his work began to sell and his spirits lifted, his palette shifted to Pink.   

The Tragedy, 1903
Picasso
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Purple: The color of royalty. Purple connotes luxury, wealth, power and dignity.

In Antiquity, purple was derived from a rare sea snail so expensive (even more than gold), it became a symbol of royalty as only the very wealthy could afford it.

The Byzantine emperor Justinian I appears clad in a purple cape in this 6^th century mosaic from the San Vitale Basilica in  Ravenna, Italy.

Exterior Color

         

When painting the exterior of your house, you should always consider the color surrounding your home. Do you have nature around you? Then, you might want to consider two different directions:

      1) To blend in with the surroundings. One great color that harmonizes with most landscapes is Valspar Dakota Trail. It has enough green and brown in it to harmonize with the great outdoors.

      2) The opposite direction is to use a red like Eddie Bower’s Cabin Red. This will set your home beautifully against its setting.

When picking a trim color, keep in mind the size of your home. Larger homes should have a lower contrast between trim and main color. You do this so the home won’t feel chopped up. For smaller homes, especially cottage style homes, you can have more fun because the trim-to-main-surface ratio is smaller. If you want a small house to look larger though, keep trim and main color closely related.

                                              
                                            Dakota Trail 6008-3B

Design Dilemma - Chris's Box

Hi Beehive Designers,

I bought an antique box last year and recently adhered a sheet of copper to the top. I’m trying to find the right color to paint the wood of the box, but I’m having trouble. I’d like to place it on the ottoman to make a study surface and use it sort of like a coffee table. However, I already have a lot of color schemes in the family room (I’ve sent photos to give you an idea of the surroundings). The colors of the room are reflected in the couch and pillows in the background. Any help would be greatly appreciated! 

Thank you,

Chris

                                            

Hi Chris,

Glad you wrote! After looking at the box, I'm thinking a soft green grey like Stony Path would be nice. The greens in this color would be a great compliment to the copper and the grey tones would work well with the furnishings in the room.

Best,
Ann

                                             
                                            Stony Path 5007-1B
 

Green Flowers Do Exist

This blog entry was written by Beehive Studios designer Veronique Habermann

                     

For a long time, I have been under the impression that there is no such thing as a green flower. I proved myself wrong today by simply peering out my window. Look at this picture of the tree in bloom. Green flowers! Granted this green has a lot of yellow in it, but it’s green nonetheless. It’s funny how color always surprises you.

Painted Floors

We bought this 140-year old farm house. The upstairs wood floors were all painted when we took the place on. After going through several ideas (some more successful than others), this light soft beige/green seemed the direction to go it. The painted floor has given the space a charming light quality that we wouldn’t have gotten if we had stripped and stained them. We are still going room by room to get the colors right. A painted floor can add a spark of excitement underfoot, it can be a great deep-colored anchor or when painted a light color can lift up a room as though you’re walking on clouds. What kind of feeling do you want to be walking into?

Sunny Florida Shines with Color Palettes

This blog entry was written by Veronique Habermann and Michele Coppin

On an early, gray Saturday morning, we left New York for a well-deserved spring break. A few hours later, at the sunny Sarasota airport, we were surprisingly greeted by Jack Dowd’s colorful artwork – Andy 15 Times…a perfect beginning to our color inspired vacation.    

                     

Here we are, in beautiful Anna Maria Island. After a few days of relaxation and catching up on lost sleep, our passion for inspiring color combinations took over once again and we were off exploring the island on bicycles, with palettes in mind – on the look out for inspiration from Florida’s unique approach to color. Here are some examples of color schemes that inspired us:

                  

              Valspar Color Palette                          Pastel Delight Entrance
             Pink Whisper 1002-2C                                  Dove White
              Sheer Green 6007-78                         Pink Odyssey 1001-2B
                     Dove White                           Chairs-Whipped Peach 2002-2B
                                                                         Peach Kiss 2002-2C
                                                                           Lime Ice 6008-78

                                                

                   
                                                                      
                  Green House                                           Blue House
        Walls-Spring Lawn 6006-9C                      Walls-sea frolic 4008-10A
      Shutters-Lime Burst 6007-10B           Trim-Lyndhurst Celestial Blue 5003-9C
       Chairs-Blue Burst 4008-10 B                   Tin Roof-Dewdrop 4007 – 7A
                    Dove white                                            Dove White
Accent, Flowers – Frosty Berry 10030-1B  Accent, Flowers – Cosmic Pink 1001-1A

                      

 

A More Sophisticated Kitchen

This blog is written by Beehive Studios designer Megan Leblond.

I met with Julie on an overcast Monday morning.  Her smiling face, a sweet white poodle named Grace, and a steaming cup of coffee greeted me at the door.

Julie is a proud parent of two college graduates.  With the kids now out of the house, Julie was looking to welcome a new look into her home. While updating her kitchen and creating a more sophisticated look, she expressed interest in downplaying her cabinets which are currently a white-washed pine. Excited to showcase her new contemporary tile floor laid on the diagonal, Julie also wanted to steer far from the mauve and blue tints she once used in the kitchen and living room. 

Julie described a nice, rich, red kitchen as her ideal new space. However, she was having trouble selecting a specific red -- some seemed too bright a pink, and others, too close to the mauve she was eliminating.  She also mentioned a light green or gold as considerations. 

Restoring Life to an Antique

Charlotte Millwater recently inherited a family heirloom that has been passed down for three generations.  This little dressing table may not be a valuable antique, but it is precious to the Millwaters.

At 14, Charlotte wanted her bedroom to reflect her personality, so we had to find way to make the antique relevant. Since she loves unique, bold colors, we wanted to amp up the color of the dressing table to make it pop in her room.  Knowing that Charlotte envisioned the dressing table in a green/blue color and that her walls were already painted in a warm, cheerful yellow, we suggested Valspar Bay Mist.

We painted the dressing table and lightly antiqued it to keep the aged look intact. By simply repainting the dressing table, we were able to restore life to an old piece of furniture that is sure to be enjoyed by Charlotte and the Millwater family for years to come.

                                             
                                             Bay Mist 5006-7C 

Drawing Inspiration Up from the Floor

This rug is a much loved antique serape, and is quite valuable. The owners tried every kind of color angle to feature their treasure, however when we got there, the room was just not working. At first glance, we couldn’t figure out why. Taking a moment to look at each element was the first step. The soft green walls were actually a nice gentle contrast with the reds in the rug. After visually pairing each element with the colors in the rug, the problem became obvious: the white trim on the walls.

The bright white trim looked clean and fresh against the green, but it jumped out too much against the warm ivories of the rug. It was like two different rooms. We suggested a warmer tone for the trim to help soften the contrast. Two directions we wanted to try: Valspar Churchill Hotel Ivory, a warm creamy off-white, and Dakota Trail, a greener/grayer off-white. These colors would bring the room together as a whole while showcasing the rug as center stage.


                                                  
            Churchill Hotel Ivory 3007-8C                    Dakota Trail 6008-3B