Finally! Autumn Living Well Newsletter is up!

I cannot believe it has been so long since my last post. Thanksgiving has come and gone and Saint Francisville is busy decorating for this weekend’s annual Christmas in the Country celebration.

I usually write my newsletter at the beginning of each season, but as soon as I heard that color forecasters Kate Smith and Kiki Titterud were coming here for a visit on the heels of the Color Marketing Group conference in New Orleans, I knew I should wait to get the color trend scoop! Read all about it in:

Autumn 2009 Living Well Newsletter

Be sure to check out our special Christmas Gift offers!

Little Darlin’ Here Comes the Sun! (no, not Tuscan Sun)

The sun is finally shining here in St. Francisville and it’s around 60 degrees outside. Perfect weather for a fire on the porch!  It’s amazing how a little sunshine can brighten your day.  However, if it’s still gloomy in your part of the world, read on:

Hunt Slonem is starting to remind me of the divorcee in the older version of the movie, The Women. The one with Joan Crawford. But of course he certainly doesn’t remind me of Crawford or actually any of the women in the movie, it’s just that he’s getting so much publicity these days, he reminds me of the older divorcee on the train to Reno who keeps getting what she calls “poo-blee-see-tay”!

There’s yet another article on www.nola.com about Hunt creating (& donating) an 18′ sculpture of  Toucans which will grace Veteran’s Memorial Boulevard in Metairie, Louisiana. Lord knows that thoroughfare could use some beautifying and who better to cheer it up than Hunt!

The article has yet another photo of  Hunt, but instead of  him in his “Tuscan Sun” room at Lakeside Plantation (yesterday’s blog post features “Tuscan Sun” at Lakeside in a NY Times article); this time, he’s standing in front of another happy color in his parlor at Albania Plantation.  The color is “Albania Mango”.  Although we created this color especially for Hunt, you can have it, too! Just email me and I’ll send you a sample, free of charge.

Hunt Slonem in his "Albania Mango" parlor at Albania Plantation

I keep reading from various New Age sources, that the most important thing we can do to get through these turbulent times is to focus our intention and energy on appreciation, gratitude and joy (see earlier blog post on The Powerful Heart) and as I keep telling my teenage daughter, “if you act happy, you will be happy”.  But lack of sunlight during the upcoming months can sure take its toll on both our psyche and our physical health, so be sure to take your vitamins (especially C, D3 & B12) and surround yourself with lots of happy colors (anything yellow or orange will do)!

To help get folks through the season, we’re having a sale (10% off) on all paint tinted in happy colors (the yellow-gold-orange range). Just be sure to mention when you call to order that you read about it here!

“Tuscan Sun” Brightens Dreary Gray Day

It is the middle of the day and it looks like it is dusk outside. I don’t recall such a gray day in a very long time–even though we’ve had more rainy than sunny days over the past week. What a pleasant surprise to get a call from Hunt Slonem asking me if I saw his most recent article in The New York Times. I hadn’t, so imagine my delight to see the beautiful photo of Hunt in his divine purple velvet dinner jacket in front of his Tuscan Sun walls!

Love that color combo: Tuscan Sun & purple!

Although the article was about this weekend’s auction of his 19th century furniture and decorative arts from his recently sold Cordts Mansion in upstate New York, the photo was actually taken at Lakeside Plantation for a previous NY Times article on Hunt entitled “Southern Gothic: Ghosts Welcome” that had folks talking and blogging for weeks !

I had the pleasure of dining with both the writer Joyce Wadler and photographer Fred Conrad the evening before the interview and photo shoot. When the article came out, I was amazed to find out just how incredibly talented these two turned out to be. Joyce is quite the storyteller as you can see by her first two sentences:

“People come and go in the homes of the painter Hunt Slonem, both the quick and the dead. There’s the handyman, who’s brought a stray cat that’s been screaming its head off all morning; the antique picker who has spread his wares outside; the friends who have stopped by to visit Mr. Slonem in his latest acquisition, an 1832 plantation house called Lakeside, pink if you please, as surprising in this community of shoebox houses as an aged diva in a pink organdy dress at McDonald’s.”

We’re so happy that Hunt will be spending more time in Louisiana. His time here seems to be quite an inspiration (some of his latest paintings are gorgeous bayou scenes). Next time I visit Lakeside, I’ll be sure to take photos of his newly painted “Mykonos Blue” sitting room.  Mykonos Blue was created especially for Hunt’s Ogden Museum exhibit and although it was rich and vibrant in the Ogden; in Hunt’s beautifully decorated sitting room, it’s really quite stunning.

"Mykonos Blue" at Ogden Museum's Hunt Slonem Exhibit

I hope I can capture the color more accurately, because it is actually a deeper more cobalt blue than in the photo above.  If I could pick my favorite blue as the “2010 color of the year” (see previous post), it would be Mykonos, because for a blue, it’s actually very refreshing, dare I say even cheerful? Blues aren’t usually described as cheerful like Tuscan Sun and other colors in the orange range of the spectrum–anti-depressant colors that can brighten any room on a dreary day like today!

"Tuscan Sun" walls & ceiling @ Lakeside Plantation

Oh, by the way, there’s a sale (10% off!) on Tuscan Sun if when you place your order,  you mention you read about it here . And if you’d like a sample of Tuscan Sun just to look at to cheer you up, email us at fspaints@aol.com and we’ll get one right out to you, free of charge.

Fall Color Palettes on Hue!

What a nice surprise to find a beautiful post by color consultant Barbara Jacobs on Rachel Perls’ color blog, Hue: for the love of color!  Barbara is always surprising me with these fabulous color palettes she puts together for her clients.  I create these colors and although they are all meant to work fairly well together, the combinations of color Barbara creates are stunning as you can see from her wonderful article on Rachel’s Blog.  Click on the links to go directly to the article. Here are just a couple of the eleven (yes, 11!) palettes she created inspired by the season and Mother Nature:

Read the article, “New England Fall Palette” to see the names of the colors.

Barbara Jacobs also creates very beautiful Tibetan rugs (Silk Road Weaves), in addition to being quite the color guru and decorative painting artist!  You can find out more about her at www.integralcolor.com!

2010 Color of the Year

The international team of color experts for the manufacturer of our paints, Akzo Nobel (formerly ICI Paints), has already posted their selection for the 2010 Color of the Year!  Here’s how they describe it in their Colour Futures book which can now be downloaded (click on Colour Futures link throughout this post to download the pdf of the book).

“The Colour of the Year is an airy and optimistic blue that symbolizes infinite horizons, new beginnings, renewed energy and a positive dynamic. This clear, transparent shade encapsulates a sense of purity and goodness – a hopeful colour full of possibility. It puts over an image of vast skies, breezy ozone freshness and the energy and essentiality of water. Given these associations plus the fact that it is a receding colour it will always create a sense of space.

Blue, in colour psychology terms, is the colour associated with sky and sea. Airy light blues are recognised as being refreshing, soothing and liberating. They are good in helping to combat mental strain and stress, physical tiredness and feelings of exhaustion whilst at the same time being re-energising and encouraging fresh starts. They are also thought to enhance powers of communication which can help to promote feelings of confidence.

A balance of the spiritual and the intellectual is represented by the allusion to air, sky and water – the freedom of the spirit married to the rationality of the mind; the vision of the artist to the knowledge of the scientist. Both in interior and exterior setting this blue has an important role to play. It complements perfectly the contemporary materials and modern neutrality of glass, steel and concrete, but also works with stronger and more traditional interior shades such as crimson, burgondy, plum, teal, pewter and gold.

This colour speaks of hope and clarity – a pure, clean and unpolluted direction for the future of our planet; a chance to reclaim possibility with renewed vigour and energy – the clear new horizon of tomorrow.” -from Akzo Nobel Colour Futures book.

Over the past year, we have added several new blues to our palette of full spectrum paints:  Alexandra Blue, Azure, Christine’s Cloud, Dusk, Sky, Seaglass, Slate & Wedgewood.  To celebrate, we’re having a sale!  $5 off per gallon on any of the above colors!

(blue inspiration photo from Colour Futures book)