Merry Christmas and a Happy 2014!!!!

With the best wishes of love, peace, health and prosperity for everybody from

Isabel de Yzaguirre,

La Colorista.

Vividly Colored Chairs: guest post by Mari from Arcadian Home

About a year ago, I published a guest post on "Decorating with Floral Art",by Arcadian Home. Today I'm very pleased to host AH again with a post on Vividly Colored Chairs, which suits perfectly my love of Color!

Isabel de Yzaguirre,

La Colorista.

Hello, lovely readers! 

I'm from Arcadian Home blog which is a wonderful place for home decor inspirations. There you will find lots of great creative ideas for everything from decorative trays to big wall art and much more. Today, we're going to talk about one of my favorite pieces of furniture. I love all things related to home interiors, but chairs are at the top of my list of furniture obsessions. I am especially fond of colorful chairs, so that's what this little visual tour is all about. Please enjoy! Thanks for letting me stop by to share. ~ Mari 

A project come true: The Four Seasons Mural for a School's yard.

Whoever has followed me since three years ago maybe remembers a  post on a Mural Project for Josep Orriols i Roca School's yard. The School is located in Moià (Barcelona, SPAIN).

I published the project for the first time when I had been working on it for about nine month, and I had serious doubts about its being  painted because of economical crisis in Spain. But luckily parents were very willing to see it done, and to let their sons and daughters have a more colourful School, no matter what it might cost. They organized events to collect money and provided all the colours that I had specified, whith the sponsoring of our local Paints Store. 

Today I can say the mural has come to life and am offering a view of the whole process until its completion.

The initial goal was to have some of the concrete walls of the yard decorated, and we chose the one in the sight: 

La Colorista, 2010.

My project aimed at representing the colours in the natural landscapes around our village all along the Four Seasons of the Year, in the same order that we experience them since the School Term begins: from Fall to Summer. Colours were picked from photographs shot in Moià's surroundings, and the proposed design was this one:

The Four Seasons' Mural, Isabel de Yzaguirre Maura

(La Colorista),2011.

AzkoNobel's 2012 Color Trends

Color Futures Via YouTube

In this video AzkoNobel's Color Futures features their four 2012 Color Trends, which are:

• Delicate Mix: about elegant, refined, understated, subtle, luxurious.
• One Small Seed: about new life, healthy, precious, fragile.
• Living Scrapbook: about life, collecting, narrating, sharing...
• Rediscovered Heroes: about legacy of the past, industrial, robust, revitalized, appreciated.

To develop further in future posts.

Guest blog by Joanna from Design Shuffle: Wonderfully Colorful Walls!

Hi! I’m Joanna, a writer for Design Shuffle, a terrific site featuring everything interior design. On the site you can find the latest designs from prominent designers and up-to-the minute news on the interiors industry. I LOVE my work. I get to spend my time searching the Internet and shelter mags for the most beautiful interior designs and bring them together to share on blogs like La Colorista. Thanks for letting me share today!

If you’re not faint of heart when it comes to wearing or decorating with bright colors, then you know the joy of a boldly hued outfit or interior space. I especially love color, but have a hard time committing to just one. That isn’t a problem for the designers of the rooms below. They went all out when choosing colors that pop for their walls.

 

A wall doesn’t have to be a solid color to be bold and bright. This wall has all the colors of the rainbow and becomes a cohesive burst of wonderful color.

 

An accent wall in a modern home office acts as a decorative entrance to a master bedroom.

 

This dining room (from the same home as above) is full of character and personality with its red and purple

accents.

 

All pretty in pink, this bedroom design wears the color beautifully. This would be a lovely room to awaken to every morning, don’t you think?

 

This fun retro room full of 60s charm would be a blast to hang out in with its comfy, stylish seating and brilliant colors.

.

Mum’s the word in this pretty corner spot. I love the pink velvet chaise and the dramatic black chandelier.

 

This room may seem as if it is shouting, “look at me!” but I find it dramatic and chic. Does it inspire any ideas for your bedroom design, den design, or any other part of your home?

 

Honeysuckle and silver cover a bold wall over a daybed. The silhouette adds personality along with rich textures and hues on the throw pillows.

Images 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 

Longing for even more colorful inspiration? Then head on over to Design Shuffle where you can explore various interior design styles and browse through the portfolios of Chicago interior designers and more!

Purple

Purple is a trendy color. It was chosen by CMG as Color of the Year 2012 and they named it Boyz'n'Berry:

Font

Recently, Color Strategist Lori Sawaya produced this Colorgraphic that shows Purple's meanings:

Lori Sawaya

Color Marketing Group think that "From office to home, from youth market to luxury goods, purple has as much masculine as feminine appeal.  Confident women and real men wear purple!" I love this turn of purple towards men!

Lori Sawaya has developed a palette of plums and purples in an Infographic that explains how and where you can use purple. If you want it, you can download it in PDF format here:

We are currently seeing purple and its related hues featured in many products, as in this sofa from Anéguil:

Or in this jardinière from the same brand:

Source

Also in this glass washbasin from Courant Verre:

And in this beautiful carpet by Heuga.

As for Colour Palettes combining purple, I love this one created and shared by Kate Smith:

Senstional Color

Purple was showcased by CAUS as early as in their 2011-12 Trends Report in GLOBAL ARTISAN TREND. Don't you be reminded of Pantone's Tangerine Tango by some of the hues in this palette?

CAUS

I love how Jane Hall used purple in this interior:

Via Pinterest

And how JPM did combine it here:

JPM Design, via Pinterest.

We could go on and on... and it would take long. I only expect you love purple as much as I do,be it trendy or not!

And if you need Color Help, please contact me.

Yours in Color!

Isabel de Yzaguirre,

La Colorista.

Celebration!

I'm feeling so happy, I have something to celebrate! This blog devoted to Colour has reached 10.000 visits this week!

Via Pinterest

I want to celebrate with friends and visitors. Which could be the best way to? A colourful one, maybe?

Let's send colourful inviting cards...

Via Semigloss Chic

... dress up in a colourful way!

Jessica Colaluca via Pinterest

Arrange a warm welcoming ambient...

Via Coco Kelley

...prepare food with the colours of the rainbow...

Via Tablespoon

...serve colourful drinks...

Via Tablespoon

... have colourful candies...

Via Pretty Things

And let's have specially a sweet Coloured Anniversary Cake!

Which of these do you like best?

Via Martha Stewart Weddings

By Bijoux Doux

By Baked Ideas

By Kakes by Karen

All of them wear colours I love. Which are your favorite colours?

If you want to, I can help you to choose Colour, just contact me!

The three Holy Kings.

In Spain, children aren't' given their presents in Christmas day, they are in Kings' Day. That is in the mornig of the 6th. of January. This has to do with the influence of Catholic Church in our country, in past days. As the Three Magic Kings are said to have taken presents of Gold, Incense and Myrrh to the newborn Jesus, children are given presents this day, provided they have been good in the preceeding year.Children write a letter to the Kings and ask for what they would love to be given.

And in the night of January the 5th., all children and their parents go to welcome the Three Magic Kings who visit their town to accomplish their so important mission. And so have done again today in the small village where I live.

Someone even was wearing white Angel wings... and a blue cap!

There is a tradition that belongs specifically to this place. While attending for the Kigs to arrive, parents and children light fires that burn big bunches of dried lavender. I think in old days this was meant to guide the Three Kings to the village, with the help of the small flames shining in the night, and of the purifying odour of burning lavender.

Children also make and light paper lanterns, with the help of their parents.

This year, the Magic Kings' Caravan was open by an Angel in the first carriage.

Then, according to the tradition, came the White King, as children call him.

The Kings wear rich clothings, throw candies to children and wave hands! 

The White-haired King exhibited wintery blue and purple hues, together with white, black and sparkles of gold and red.

After him came the Blond King, wearing traditional Chirstmas colours: red, green and gold.

And in last but not least place, the Black King, by far the children's favourite since I have memory as a child.  And it's still the same today.

All children are wishing to talk to him and tell him they have been good enough to deserve their presents!

As you can see, all the Kings' robes and carriages' garments were in rich jewel tones, according to their rank. I'm willing to create some royal color palettes as soon as I can!

After welcoming the Three Kings, children go home and must go to sleep soon after dinner. If they are awake when the Kings go to visit them, might be they would not be given any presents! When I was a child my parents always left some dry bread and a bowl filled with water in the balcony, to feed the royal camels. I assumed that as the Kings were magicians, the camels could fly to a fourth flat and they could open the doors and come into all the houses. Once, I heard the camel's bells ringing... and was lucky enough to stay absolutely quiet in bed! At home there was always some sweet wine and biscuits for the Kings to eat and drink. Their's was a hard work: they had to visit all the children in the world in one only night to bring them their presents. It was fair to help them have a rest and get their strength back. And in the morning, the first thing we did was to check that camels had eaten bread and drunk water. Then, findig where the Kings had left our presents was a happy game!

Now that I'm a grown up, I love to go to welcome the Kings with my son. And this day, which means the closing of Christmas Season for us, still makes me feel joyful! 

The year of La Colorista.

If I look backwards, this has been a busy year! 

I had decided to go back to Art Classes in 2010, and there I explored color with Mrs. Marina Berdalet, and I went on in 2011. Those were Happy Days!

Liliums, by Isabel.

I begun doing digital Colour Paletes, just because I liked to. I thank Jaume Orriols for his Photoshop classes. Also  Joan Sunyer Moret, for teaching me some pro tricks and for his conceptual and technical help with my La Colorista logos and card. And Hornbeck Design Partners were so kind to let me use their Monterrey photograph for my now Insignia Palette:

Monterrey Palette.

I wanted to learn Color Consultancy in a more scientific way that I had been taught at the Art School. There are no such studies in Spain and I looked for Online Classes. The one that looked the best was by Sensational Color. I wasn't disappointed at all. I earned my Color for Your Home Consultant Certification with Color Expert Kate Smith. She was and excellent teacher and now is a friend!

In the last days of 2010 I had bought the domain lacolorista.es and very shyly opened a Facebook bizz Page. Now it has 218 followers! To all of you, many, many thanks!!!

I have  gone on publishing my blog in three languages, and this means writing three blogs in one. My English one is the more read and has lead me a lot of traffic -don't forget, I'm a small fish... I have gone from about 3000 visits in the beginning of 2011 to nearly 9000 today. I could never have imagined that. So, to all that have come here to read my posts, or maybe just to have a look at them, many thanks for spending part of your time here!!!

I have tried to do things in my way and have explored trends as well. And my 2011 more read posts have been:

Colors of the Year 2011: which one you choose?

466 visualizations

Mural project for a School's Yard

426 visualizations.

AzkoNobel's Colour for the Year 2012, Juicy Ripe Red

358 visualizations.

And the Winning Award goes to:

Tangerine Tango, Pantone's Color of the Year 2012!

586 visualizations until this moment.

Maybe this will seem not much to some, but I had never dreamed of being read by so much people!

To end this yearly review, I designed my logo and card and am launching my service locally.I had Joan Moret's help as mentioned above. But I have a special thank you for Color Expert Teresa Tullio, who kindly offered some free ideas from which my current logo was bornt.

And I have made many wonderful Color Friends. So what else could I ask for? 

Just one thing: please, come back in 2012!!!

Happy New Year to all!!!