Encrusted Concrete Palette | Premo Recipes Vol-077-B

1-B: Concrete
2-B: Distressed
3-B: Peat Moss
4–B: Encrusted

In our previous Vol-077-A Series Color Recipe post for the David Russell Battery Palette, the colors were inspired by a close up photo taken of the aging concrete walls at a historic military site in Fort Stevens State Park, Oregon.

Well today’s photo was taken in the same location, but of a lichen encrusted wall. It also makes for an interesting color palette, with a unique range of neutral tones.

These concrete walls are more than 100 years old and have been battered by wind, storms and the salty sea air of the Pacific Ocean. They are pitted, distressed, rusted and covered in moss and lichens.

What I love about this photo… no it is not it’s riveting subject matter of an old concrete wall… but its cool distressed textures and neutral based colors.

Neutral colors are grounding. They support and enhance the more vibrant colors and give them a non-competitive backdrop on which they can sing. That is why the ground, soil and rocks are neutral colors and the flowers are not… Mother Nature being the best artist of all!

Neutral colors are more complex and the most tricky to mix accurately. Sure they are easy to make by accident… just mix together some random colors and you’ll most likely end up with a handful of mud colors. But try to mix the colors you actually intended (like from a photograph), and the task is much more difficult since they are a complex mixture of shades from all sides of the color wheel. This makes creating neutral color recipes a fun challenge for me, and a supportive help for you. Win-Win!

Any who… this photo had some inspiring colors in a neutral palette that I thought you might love to add to your color repertoire.

Please enjoy this photo and the colors inspired by it for this October 2014 Vol-077 B-Series Palette!

Everyone who is subscribed to our Polymer Clay Guest List will be able to download the following recipes free, one per week on Friday mornings during the month of October 2014:

• Concrete (Recipe 077-1B)
• Distressed (Recipe 077-2B)
• Peat Moss (Recipe 077-3B)
• Encrusted (Recipe 077-4B)

[wp_ad_camp_1]…Concrete is a soft medium gray color of the pitted and etched walls of this photo. Distressed is the dark black brown found in the stress cracks. Peat Moss is the golden red brown of the dried out moss covered areas. And Encrusted is the grayed down golden yellow of the lichen which seems to be thriving quite well in large patches.

The recipes described above are from the Volume-077 B-Series Palette. They are free to download for everyone subscribed to the Polymer Clay Guest List, Friday Email Newsletter.

If you want to see the Volume-077 A-Series Color Palette that paid library members will also receive during the month of October then click here: David Russell Battery Color Palette

Color mixing is one of my biggest challenges. Your recipes are fantastic and I print them all out and keep them in a binder for future reference. I have done the Maggie Maggio course but still have trouble “seeing” which color to use to match a particular palette. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and experience. Hugs. ~Sue-C

I’m new at polymer clay but after encouragement from Cindy on my blog I got up enough courage to start playing. Color has been fascinating for me. After doing some color mixing experiments that went horribly wrong, I am excited to start using the color recipe cards! ~Judith-R

Though I am literally brand new at the P.C. bead making, I have already gotten a ‘different eye’ in my surroundings for looking at color. I was actually in my bathroom the other day, for my morning sit down and noticed my shower curtain. It is in rich browns, golds and tans. I’m thinking what great colors and textures it would be use to as a polymer clay tube bead. Also, I got a catalog from a well known flower company and just looking through it, at the color spectrum available in nature, I see ‘treasure’ now in even my junk mail! Thanks for helping me to be inspired with the idea of color in nature, mail and yes, even my bathroom curtain. ~Karen-O

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Order Page for Color Recipe and Video Back Issue Packages
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