Smashing Color

with Maggie Maggio

The Queen

I watched the Academy Awards and was thrilled when Helen Mirren won for “The Queen.”  I thought she looked great. Loved the gown. My mom is Canadian and whenever we visited my grandparents in Saskatchewan I saw pictures of the Queen.  Not the most fashionable of monarchs but I always thought she was beautiful, probably […]

Pointed Pointillism: 2030 Challenge

I think a lot about the connections between the environment, social justice and art. Today they all came together when I found Chris Jordan’s latest collection of photographs “Running the Numbers: An American Portrait“. Jordon skewers our out-of-control consumer culture by turning photos into oversized pointillist collages. The image above is a detail of his […]

Spoof, No Spoof

Painted Cats is the subject line of one of those constantly circulating emails making the rounds of cyber space. My cousin forwarded this one to me. He was very upset about the cruel anesthetizing of these poor cats as they got their $15,000 paint jobs. That sounded fishy to me so I checked Snopes.com and sure […]

Smashing Color # 8: Complements are NOT Set in Stone

Complementary colors are shown opposite each other on most color wheels, but what is often missing is the neutral color in the center. There are at least four variations of complementary color wheels, each with a different neutral color in the center. Wheel #1: Spectral Complements Spectral complements mix to make white light. The value […]

Listening to Ultramarine

A friend who collects healing rocks asked me to bring her back something from Tucson. She was very non specific about what she wanted. Her only instruction was to “listen.” There were over 40 different shows this year in the Tucson area, with thousands of vendors selling rocks, gems, beads. It didn’t take long walking […]

Laura Liska’s Gorgeous Colors

I’m here in Tucson helping Laura Liska at the Whole Bead Show. The room is filled with her color coordinated collections of bead mixes, fiber bundles and fabric squares all beautifully displayed in baskets on tables covered in hand-dyed cloths. I can’t tell you how many times people walk in and say, “Ooooh, these colors […]