I was excited to see Deb Willsea again on my recent travels to Cape Cod, MA. We met years ago when I did a her color analysis in Rochester, NY. Deb's petite frame and creative personality style create unique challenges in finding sizes that fit correctly while seeking unusual, creative clothing in the earthy soft autumn palette.
It was a joy to feel the harmony she had created in her home on Cape Cod using Soft Autumn colors and natural materials as we weeded out items in her closet that don't work during a recent closet "rehab". Read more about how she has incorporated the concepts of balancing a natural environment for learning in developing the Cape Cod Toy Library Inc based on the Reggio Emilia philosophy in this month's colorful lives blog.
Kerry of Indigo Tones has helped three of us in our family to better understand the colors that best suit us – our skin tone, our hair and eye coloring and personalities. My husband and son have also appreciated Kerry’s color analysis. Kerry’s passion around colors for people to feel their best in what they’re wearing makes sense to me.
I’ve always been color sensitive and very aware of colors that I put together to wear. I recently found myself matching shades of navy blues for shorts and t-shirt when I was just going to the beach. I also notice and compliment others when they wear just the right colors that look fabulous on them. I admire people who wear clothing totally in harmony with their coloring. Admittedly, I also notice when someone is wearing colors and patterns that are off for them or not in sync with the season of the year. While I might not always wear “soft autumn” colors, I definitely wear them in the fall, and I only wear “dark autumn” colors in November. When I wear soft autumn colors, I know I look my best and I receive complements wherever I go.
With my desire to pare down my wardrobe and keep those items that were best matched to my coloring, I recently had Kerry help me go through my closet. It was a very satisfying experience to pull out clothes that no longer suit me, even if they were pieces I loved but weren’t quite right for me because of the coloring, size, pattern or style. It was also helpful to have Kerry organize my closet by seasons of colors especially since I like to wear colors appropriate for the season.
Kerry’s pointing out the importance of colors we wear as well as the colors we surround ourselves with in our homes, offices, businesses resonated with me. I feel most at home in an environment that has “soft autumn” colors of soft warm tones. I’m aware of being uncomfortable in an environment with mostly white or black unless there are soft tones such as natural baskets, soft colored furniture, objects, artwork, or fabrics.
I consistently choose a soft white wall paint, specifically “Benjamin Moore linen white” rather than any other white tone. When I’ve tried whiter tone paints, even for trim color, it doesn’t feel right to me; it doesn’t feel as warm and inviting to me. I also avoid white furniture and stick with furniture, curtains, lamp shades etc. that are off white or natural wood tones such as maple or English pine and the beams in our home are whitewashed. The artwork we’ve chosen has soft, muted colors to purposefully give an overall calm feeling.
With my development of the Rochester Toy Library and more recently the Cape Cod Toy Library, Inc. I’ve had several opportunities to create aesthetically attractive and welcoming play learning environments for children and families. I’ve especially enjoyed incorporating the Reggio Emilia philosophy that recognizes the environment as the “third teacher” with the first being the parent, and second being the teacher.
For me, it’s been especially gratifying to create environments that are developmentally appropriate and aesthetically attractive to help foster children’s curiosity and learning as well as provide a setting that is welcoming and relaxing for adults. In addition to having wooden toys in the toy lending library collection, I’ve intentionally found furniture with soft wood tones such as maple and English pine and display toys and books in baskets. I’ve purposefully chosen greens and blues for carpeting for colors in nature to provide a calm, welcoming environment for people from different cultures.
It’s important to me to create an environment that portrays a warm and calm feeling for staff and volunteers and visitors. Most recently, I’ve had the honor of creating an “Outdoor Play Oasis” as an outreach project of the Cape Cod Toy Library using all natural materials. Thankfully, the “autumn” colors in my home as well as in the Toy Library and Outdoor Play Oasis environments are appreciated by others.
Watch to learn more about the Creative Community Shapes here!
"The “Environment as a Third Teacher’ is one of the most complex philosophical ideas. However, once you begin your journey into learning more and practicing these suggestions, you will experience environments in new ways. Both in your classroom environment, and also in your home environment or other spaces you encounter. You’ll be aware of that feeling when a space feels cozy and inspiring or when it feels dark, cluttered, or cold. It also means environments that support function help children and teachers work, play, and complete tasks smoothly. Creating an environment that represents your values and what you want to provide for children is one of the most powerful acts a teacher can deliver."- Megan Haynes & Priscilla Patti /Reggio-Inspired Teacher Playbook
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It is my pleasure to introduce you to this month’s Dark Winter feature, eyebrow, skincare and permanent hair removal expert, Gia Pauldine. Gia was one of my first clients when I started my color analysis business nearly 20 years ago. It was around that time that she also founded her business, Restoration Electrolysis, LLC.
Gia was easy to analyze. Her deep brown hair worked well with black and dark brown neutrals that were then and still are so easy to shop for. A few pops of rich reds, deep greens and purples and she was good to go for many years. When she decided to go gray more recently and wondered how to incorporate it with her clothing choices, we had the pleasure of reconnecting and working on her wardrobe and closet. I was amazed at how gorgeous her skin looked and she introduced me to some of the skin revitalization services she offers now including light therapy. Learn more about her unique, wholistic eyebrow makeovers and skincare maintenance to the process she went through in letting her hair go naturally from a dark brown to a multi-hued gray and how it impacted her clothing choices.
It’s a treat to introduce you to this month's colorful lives feature, Soft Autumn Tim Stich who is also my son!! Tim’s experience with shopping for clothing and wearing color is unique as I become a color analyst when he was quite young. When he and his sister Clare were little, I tried dressing them in bright colors with strong patterns as was the style then.....but even before learning about personal color harmony, I started to sense that the clothes overwhelmed them and began dressing them in softer colors and solids. I was even shocked the other day to discover when I pulled out his school photos that every single photo (even before I learned of his color palette) was taken in a Soft Autumn color. You can see how his life has evolved wearing the soft, earthy colors that suit his ruddy hair, freckles and soft blue/green eyes.
Over the years, he has mostly been very eager to wear what suits him and looked to me to help him distinguish soft autumn colors from the two seasons nearby - warm autumn and soft summer. We enjoy shopping together, especially now that he lives in Manhattan and the shopping is abundant. It can be a challenge to find his colors in sizes and style that fit but when its perfect, it feels great and he knows it. Read on to learn more about what it’s like to be a guy whose mom is a color consultant!
I am so excited to introduce you the “entertainingly irreverent” (Associated Press) Soft Summer, Valerie Peterson. Valerie is an extraordinary storyteller in a variety of media including scriptwriting, screenplays, fiction, non-fiction and book publishing/consulting. I analyzed her colors years ago in Rhode Island at a girls weekend hosted by a mutual friend (color analysis and girls weekends make a great combo!). In the years since, Valerie has embraced her Soft Summer colors in spite of living and working in New York City where black is a standard and practical.
It was a thrill when her publisher chose a photo of my family for her wonderfully spirited book, Peterson’s Happy Hour. On page 46, you can find me with my family - brothers, Mike and Tim and my parents Marcia and J. Michael Jones circa 1970. The book features many more photographic gems and recipes for a fabulous social gathering!
In this month’s colorful lives blog, Valerie shares her journey with her color palette. As with all her writing projects, she is humorous, colorful and entertaining! She has kept in great condition and still uses the Sci Art swatch book that I provided back in those days!! Be sure to check out her large body of work on valeriepeterson.net and read more in the blog:
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