Lupine Palette | Premo Color Recipes Vol-074-B

1-B: Gentle
2-B: Refreshed
3-B: Lupine
4–B: Pillowcase

A long time ago… just before the kids were born, Doug and I lived out in the country. We had purchased a big chunk of land along the mountainside near Hope, British Columbia.

Our plans were to build a Trout Farm on the property using water from a spring fed creek that spills over a beautiful waterfall. The land was pretty untamed and there were wildflowers everywhere.

Although that trout farm in Hope never did come to fruition, we did work with investors on another trout production facility nearby, which provided an opportunity for us to spend many years living on our rural land, before eventually returning to civilization.

During those years, I was very much aware of all the wildflowers that would bloom in the fields and on the mountainside. Wild Lupines, like the one pictured above, grew en masse in huge patches of blue, green and purple. Their colorful spikes swaying and rippling like waves of water, when the wind blew.

I drove a lot from our place up in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, down into the City of Vancouver, delivering Live Trout to the bustling Chinatown community… and specialty dressed bone-out fillets to our marque customers like Costco and other local seafood establishments.

During my drives, I was always amazed to see how the vegetation would shift because of the small climate differences between our upper valley location and the more coastal areas closer to the ocean.

You see, along the ditches of the one and a half hour trip from Hope to Vancouver, were patches of wild lupines. The ones closer to the seaside in Vancouver would be in full color first. Then two weeks later, the ones further up the valley would bloom, and finally, ours up at the mountain property would do their thing.

It wasn’t the temperature so much at the time of blooming that caused the difference… Hope actually tends to get warmer than Vancouver because there is no cool ocean breeze. It was actually more to do with the milder climate of the coast that got the Lupines out of hibernation sooner… Hope gets slightly hotter in summer and colder in the winter. Nature is very fascinating to me.

Any way… I was reminded of all the Lupine stuff when Doug brought this beautiful Lupine flower home from one of his many walks to the YMCA the other morning. He’s always on the look out for specimens to photograph for upcoming color recipe palettes. I hope this was along the ditch and not in someone’s garden though… you never know with Doug! ;))

I hope you didn’t mind getting led down the garden path with my little Lupine story today. Please enjoy this photo and the colors inspired by it for this July 2014 Vol-074 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 July 2014:

• Gentle (Recipe 074-1B)
• Refreshed (Recipe 074-2B)
• Lupine (Recipe 074-3B)
• Pillowcase (Recipe 074-4B)

[wp_ad_camp_1]…Gentle is the softest most peaceful purple color that you will ever see and it graces the centers of the Lupine flower petals. Refreshed is the fresh crisp green of the blossoms before they change to the color purple. Lupine is the gorgeous blue purple of the edges of the Lupine Flower spikes. And Pillowcase is the clean soft white of the blooms and the color of a fresh linen pillowcase.

The recipes described above are from the Volume-074 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-074 A-Series Color Palette that paid library members will also receive during the month of July then click here: Maple Samara Palette

Love the colours! What’s great about being on the other side of the world to you guys is that when it is our autumn (fall) and winter, it is your spring and summer and all the beautiful colours that you guys have come out to play (especially in Cindy’s clay!!) ~Sandra-J

Thanks for the great tips and color recipes Cindy. You’re the best!!! ~Andrea-R

Cindy – I’ve never commented on your color recipes, but appreciate them and your videos so much. No doubt there are plenty of others like me who sorta hang out in the background and let others do most of the talking. I don’t make jewelry – the necklaces, earrings etc. – but I spend hours making things to give away. Tons of key rings, badge reels, magnets, bookmarks, etc. I’ve covered lots of tins that everyone seems to like. Little kids especially seem to love them. And I get lots of comments back from people who seem to like to take the beads and turn them into pendants, earrings and bracelets themselves. I put lots of beads on the little ball chains and tell people to attach them to gift packages or cards. I’m well into my senior years – have mobility problems so don’t get out that much. I do have a great mobility scooter that weighs under 40 pounds so I can lift it and put it in the back of my SUV which lets me get to Hobby Lobby and Home Depot to get some of the supplies you recommend. But I mostly shop via the internet. Your videos mean the world to me – so thank you so much for all that you and your family do that make my days so much fun. And to all you other people who – like me –  have neglected to tell Cindy how much you enjoy those color recipes and her videos – do it now!! ~Fran-R

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