Artistic Expression - The Basics of Color and Creativity

Colors have an amazing impact on our lives. From the red of our stop signs and traffic lights, to the ever important green of a dollar bill, color is integrated into every facet of our daily adventures. No where is this more clear, than in our art and in our artistic creativity.

Artists and designers are able to use color as a tool to capture our moods and emotions, to identify shapes and objects, and to convey messages. They use color almost like a gardener uses a shovel to dig in the soil. They poke us and prod us with harsh or depressing color mixtures, and they gently sway us or quiet our spirits with subdued or gentle pallets. Color can actually be the strongest element in any piece of artwork, due to the way it affects us on so many levels.

So, how about we look at a couple of the strategies for using color in our creative outlets and our designs, to have the greatest impact on our viewers and to help us become even more inspired.

Color adds a lot to any design, so we must be confident in our expression and use of it. There is a lot to learn from basic design theory, about color, so make sure you study color concepts thoroughly. For now, let us focus on two basics...

1. Experimentation is one of your most powerful strategies in using color. Never be afraid to try anything, with color, in your art. Discover relationships between different colors. Explore playful, soft, dark, bright, vibrant, and any other mixture of color with a fresh, new eye towards inspiration. Now, just to bring sanity back to the table, before you add new colors and inspirations to any piece you are already working on, please test your colors and combinations first. But the concept still rings true... experiment with and explore new colors.

2. Color wheels are another essential tool in any artist's arsenal. Color wheels, paint chips, or even color reference books, like the "Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color", or "Color Index: Over 1100 Color Combinations", simplify the process of choosing colors by providing a reference for how colors work together. There is way too much to cover here, to make a color wheel understandable. Suffice it to say, whether you are a painter, a photographer, or any other artist, you will want some kind of color wheel, or color reference book, to help you get clarity on how colors relate and work together.

The most important thing to remember about working with color, in all your creative exploration, is to know that there is not, and may never be, a perfect combination. But, you can be confident in your own creative expression and artwork, if you will find colors that you enjoy, and that do not go against your own perception of great creative design.

How Some People Become Fabulously Wealthy

Recently, reading the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans and also watching a video on the business affairs of Carlos Slim, who is considered the richest man in the world, it became obvious that the super-wealthy do not think like other people.

The difference?

The wealthy, super-wealthy, billionaires and multi-billionaires all "believe it can be done."

We're not just talking about positive thinking. We're talking about the attitude, the mindset and the will that allows creative thinking to blossom.

If you have any aspirations for being far better off financially, eliminate the word "impossible" from your thinking and from your speech. Quit using that failure-generating word altogether.

Once, you've been able to do that simple thing, then you're ready for the next step: think of something that you want to do but felt that you simply could not do, for one reason or another.

Now, is this impossible?

Of course not!

So are you ready to find the way?

YES?

Good, let's proceed. The next step is to make a list of why it is "possible," and especially why it is possible for YOU! Concentrate on why YOU CAN. The "how" will show up with this kind of attitude.
Average people resent progress. They stay stuck in traditional living, non-creative thinking, and non-resourceful strategies. Do you want to be average or exceptional? The default mode is average, even below average. If you aspire to be exceptional, you need to exercise your mind to work for you and not against you.

"Man belongs," pioneering rocket scientist Dr. Von Braun once said, "where man wants to go."

Nothing grows in winter. Similarly, if your mind is frozen up with fear, doubt, and uncertainty, you can't expect any aspect of your life to grow, either. Money likes speed. It likes men and women of action.

Most people get stuck on whether their ideas are sound or practical. This is not the point. The point is to generate more ideas, more energy and more resources.

Be a sponge in relationship to your business. Learn all you can, continuously. Then experiment. Try one thing after another and never-never-never give in.

Success, both simple success and huge success, belongs to progressive, not regressive thinkers. Successful people continuously ask themselves, "How can I improve my performance? How can I get better at this? What do I need to learn? Where do I need to go? Whom do I need to meet?"

Working hard is only part of the solution to creating wealth. Working to get increasingly smarter at your business and constantly reminding yourself that nothing is impossible creates the major difference.

Wealth rightly belongs to those who have cultivated a will for excellence.