Colourful warm up

Some people call it playing. I start with the scrap box -

Rummaging in scrap boxes is one of my favourite activities - you come across an interesting scrap, and that gets the creative juices going. 

Starting with a few different scraps, some interesting groupings emerged. When the rummaging caused fabric to fall out of the box, those pieces were auditioned with the groups already there, and that led to some discoveries. But when do you stop?

To help you ignore that grotty green cutting mat background, here are some closeups -

Muted colours mostly - tonal balance will depend on the proportions used

Love that flash of metallic copper - but ... not enough light tones?

This selection needs paring down - too much going on

How or when or if these combinations will ever be used is doubtful, but the exercise has refreshed my eye, cleansed my palate (palette?). And writing about them, in another room, makes a chance for a second look and critical appraisal. Now I can go back to the messy surface and sweep them back into the scrap box - and get on with something serious.

While preparing the closeup pix I learned a new Photoshop skill - how to select an area with the polygonal lasso tool, select the inverse area (background), and then fill it with a colour to frame the strange shape. All in the interests of blotting out that grotty green cutting mat background.