HI HUES blog

Day-Glowing On

2020-02-11T06:30:00.000-06:00

Where Ever I Go, Day-Glow

In We Go Day-Glow, I shared my love of citron.

Electrified, neon, and day-glow.

With finding endless inspiration in the color, pinning this hue seems to be a ceaseless and ongoing process.

Whether just a pop, or in its full glory, the following are a few of my favorite "electrified" citron recent pins ...

Much Amore

2020-02-10T06:30:00.000-06:00

Love's in the Air

I might not have a romantic bone in my body, but I'm a buoyantly resilient person who revels in love.

Love can be a passion for what one does, the kindness shown to others, oneself, the soul connection with "your person," or the unconditional sort a doggo gifts *their* person.

As a result, I am here for February; the hearts, love, optimism, pink, red, and all the Valentine glory.

The following pins are inspiration for oh so much amore ...

February Summer

2020-02-07T06:30:00.000-06:00

Summer Somewhere

I shared at the start of this week that I have a soul of summer.

And oh ... my ... GOODNESS, does this sun-loving-spirit need a seasonal blast to get my positive-o-meter pointing in a healthy direction.

The following pins are to help bring in the weekend with an eye to longer days, brighter skies, and warmer temperatures ...

Aloe Me To

2020-02-06T06:30:00.000-06:00

Aloe Me to Introduce...

Design Seeds *clearly* has a forever-place in my heart.

For oh so many reasons, including:

The amazing creative community it helped connect through SeedsColor collaborations
It was a dream-turned-reality, going from passion project to full-time job
I was able to be prolifically creative for over a *decade* with generous and incredibly supportive readers & followers

In expressing all my gratitude for Design Seeds, what is was / is / and becoming...

I feel a deep thrill in my bones with HI HUES. This energy is so much like the earliest days of Design Seeds.

The thrill is because the amount of creativity I am able to indulge through this project, the "newness" of it all (modern color for the new decade), and the freedom it has granted me as a creative on the interwebs.

This has just about everything to do with HI HUES is 100% new.

I created Seeds in 2009, and this site + blog are my how-I-would-do-it-for-a-new-decade-so-I-am.

There are no brand expectations, the aesthetic I am creating for it unfolds as more content is shared, and the content comes from both a personal and indulgent place within my creative process.

First of all - personal - because of the nature of the blog, and what I am sharing here (which was never integrated into Design Seeds).

Secondly - indulgent - in that the photography and inspiration are solely about color, coming from a place of pure joyous curiosity.

The photos are "sketched" vignettes of color and aesthetics. There is no need for Insta-perfection. And if anything, such "curation" and filtering is the antithesis of modernity, so the more pure the better.

All of this is allowing me to be a so much more playful, raw, and abstract with the content versus that of Design Seeds (with Seeds being about the absolute refinement of the color palettes, created to strike a balanced and perfect chord or harmony).

I'm sharing this big shift in my creative process, because today's subject matter - succulents - are a perfect example of the difference approach I am taking through HI HUES.

I swore I was not touching a petal of a flower for HI HUES (I may have done one, or thousands, of those palettes already ;)

We'll see how that goes, because my "never!" declarations inevitably become the inevitable :)

In the meantime ... the following are a few of my favorite recent succulent pins ...

Bejeweled Hue

2020-02-05T06:30:00.000-06:00

Jewel of My Eye

These inspiration pins have me loving combining jeweled hues with pastels. What a fun way to be "thinking spring," while adding some impact ...

We Go Day-Glow

2020-02-04T09:30:00.000-06:00

Neon Soul

Not one to shy away from color, day-glow citron has been a favorite color for decades.

For going on 12 years, I still use a coffee mug a friend and former coworker gave me because she knew it was my favorite color. Super thoughtful gift, right?!

Said gift is a Pantone mug, color 388C.

Goodness, even the accent color on the HI HUES site and blog veers on the edge of citron (I wanted it to be yellow, but couldn't help pushing it to the edge :)

I absolute adore citron.

Electrified, neon, and day-glow.

Leading to today's post ...

For Unicorn Droppings posts, I create and select one photo to lead the concept, and let the pins do the inspiration talking.

Photographed above is a sleeve from a Philippe Starck stationary holder I bought back in the early aughts. However, when I started photographing my beloved pencil holder, I couldn't stop. I had an even tougher time editing down to what was going to be the sole photo for this post.

So today I'm sharing with you some favorite captures from the shoot, and will post more We Go Day-Glow pins over a series.

Hope you enjoy this jolt of color, and your inspiration gets a little bit of a charge!

Helping Honey

2020-02-04T06:30:00.001-06:00

Studio Helpers

I can always rely on Honey to lend a helping hand, but last week was delighted to have Pico get in on the action (even if I only caught one photo of her).

Honey is 8 months old, and Pico is a more matured 8 years.

It was an "interesting" adjustment integrating Honey into our family because I am so bonded with Pico and didn't want her to feel a division of love. Training and bonding with such a little puppy (she was only 2 pounds!), while nurturing the emotional needs of my soul puppy has proved quite a learning experience.

I content that having an older doggo is *ideal* for training a puppy. I swear Honey listened better to Pico than us for the first four months. And despite the initial few days of emotional "bumps" for Pico, the hard work has paid off for everyone (both the four and two legged family members).

Gratefully Honey & Pico get on oh so well, with Honey looking at Pico like she hung the moon. Although a stellar player of fetch, Pico has notably mellowed the past few years, but her "inner puppy" has been reignited (loving to play with squeak toys and chasing her puppy-sister).

Hope you enjoy this vignette of doggos and color I captured while cleaning up last week :)

Summer Surf

2020-02-03T06:30:00.000-06:00

Soul of Summer

The following is one of my absolute favorite quotes:

"In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer."

~ Albert Camus

The conceptual, metaphoric, and literal aspects of this quote all apply to this persevering, mermaid soul.

Tapping into what this quote means has helped me tremendously the past decade of creating and running my consultancy, all while living in Wisconsin.

The winters here can be as brutal as the waters a small business has to navigate in a monopolized modern world. That said, there is a creative spark fueled by the optimism, a consistent hum of the vibrant season's warmth that keeps me going.

Today's shared pins are inspired by the concept of an invincible summer. Happy Monday, and let's bring the sunshine this week :) ...

Chalk It Up

2020-02-02T06:30:00.000-06:00

Chalk About Color

Basking in the incredible inspiration of pastels.

Having found myself on a pinning streak of matte and chalky hues, the following are some recent favorites ...

Mobile Candy Downloads 02.20

2020-02-01T06:30:00.000-06:00

Wallpaper Downloads

HI HUES color for your phone :)

Bringing analogue happy to your tech. Simply download the image to your device, and save to your desired screen settings.

*All images are for personal use only. They are not allowed to be used for commercial purposes, including promotional use on social media. All copyrights are retained by HI HUES™.

download

Righteously Ramune

2020-01-31T06:30:00.000-06:00

The Ramune Aesthetic

I snapped the photo above while stocking up on candy last weekend, and since Ramune's packaging and colors consistently capture my imagination, I thought it would be fun to do a "Unicorn Droppings" post celebrating the Ramune Aesthetic.

It struck me that it is also a good post to share with you one of my favorite inspiration places (if you're not already using it, that is) ... We<3It.

I used WeHeartIt long before my early Pinterest "beta days," back when I first launched Design Seeds. I'm still a regular over there because the content is "younger" (than on Pinterest).

Many of the earliest bubbling and shifts in trends materialize over there first, and it mixes: arts, aesthetics, lifestyle, and popular culture in a way I enjoy navigating. I think of it as "raw inspiration data" to track and string together.

WeHeartIt was especially helpful for this post in that I was coming up with nothing on Pinterest, but found success in searching for Ramune inspiration "sparks" to pin and share.

So without further ado, let me intro the good stuff with well wishes for your weekend! Happy Friday and enjoy...

Oh So Bold

2020-01-30T06:30:00.000-06:00

Born Bold

Besides being a jump start for the heart, I love how bold hues also bring a richness and depth to the seemingly simple.

The following pins celebrate bold use of color with the simple, as well as the not-so-much ...

Clearly Awesome

2020-01-29T06:30:00.000-06:00

Seeing Right Through It

Expanding on yesterday's Color Swatched, more from the world of cosmetics with the beauty of oils and serums.

Herbivore Botanicals has absolutely stunning product photography, and their shop is a rabbit hole of gorgeous color inspiration.

The following pins are some clear favorites...

Color Swatched

2020-01-28T06:30:00.000-06:00

Dabbing Hues

Cosmetic pins rank high as a favorite source for color inspiration. The purity of their hues, varying sheens, translucencies, and shimmers are pure magic.

I'm absolutely here for the modern vibe the pastels give off in the following collection...

Mobile Candy Downloads 01.20

2020-01-27T10:44:00.000-06:00

Wallpaper Downloads

HI HUES color for your phone :)

Bringing analogue happy to your tech. Simply download the image to your device, and save to your desired screen settings.

*All images are for personal use only. They are not allowed to be used for commercial purposes, including promotional use on social media. All copyrights are retained by HI HUES™.

download

Dream Maker

2020-01-26T06:30:00.000-06:00

Choose You Own Adventure

Although I was born in the midwest (Metro Detroit), and lived in New England for about a decade, it still sends a shivering shock through my system with how rough the winters are here in Madison (Wisconsin).

The first three months of the year seem to limp at a frozen, salt stained, slushed pace. In the past decade living here, I've become a bit of a champ in creating my own "mental vacations."

Sun, surf, and happy are usually just a pin away.

The following pins transport me from the funk of winter ... hope you find a little spark in choosing your own adventure ...

Color Creature

2020-01-25T06:30:00.000-06:00

Taste the Rainbow

In my first post for the HI HUES blog, I shared about my incredible studio helper Honey.

I have a second four-legged coworker named Pico. However, Pico (a seasoned assistant the past eight years) tends not to photobomb as Honey marvelously does (per image above).

I fell in love with this capture because it sums up Honey's character: curious, unrestrained, and possessing serious levels of cuteness.

In transitioning from my studio to the interwebs, the following are some colorful creature pins that had captured my imagination this past week...

Oddly Satisfying

2020-01-24T14:30:00.000-06:00

Color In Action

With launching HI HUES, I've been working on what sort of content I enjoy sharing for Instagram stories, and it has candidly been a learning curve because I never touch(ed) them for Design Seeds.

Today a light bulb went off as I was wrestling with some candy ribbons for a new photo series, and in the process happened to make some cool videos I found oddly satisfying.

Yes, the videos are shaky (no clue where my daughter tucked my tripod away to). I was also going to turn off the sound, but ended up finding the white noise an interesting part of the soothing effect.

These are the sorts of videos I can watch on loop, AND are something easily integrated into my creative process with HI HUES.

There are videos of green, apricot, and blue candy ribbons unfolding in my Instagram stories.

I'm also excited to share the outtakes / stills of the candy ribbons here on the blog, and interested hearing if you too enjoy these new oddly satisfying videos?

Double Down

2020-01-24T10:12:00.000-06:00

Letting it Fly

When I share that I live a healthy and measured (nutritional) life, it's a really succinct way of saying that many (perhaps most?) folks think I'm a little bat-sh*t-crazy.

We're a vegetarian and teetotal household, with a home gym that is well stocked, and well used.

Some may also find this confession pretty ironic, considering my favorite subject matter to shoot for color these days is candy (which my teenage daughter is notably happy about taking the "props" off my hands when I'm done shooting them).

However ... as a family, we give ourselves one amazing day a week to let. It. Fly.

Fridays are my night off from cooking, and it is the day we bring out the big guns ... having pizza AND donuts for dinner.

Doubling Down

It's it not just some halfhearted pizza attempt towards indulgence, but an eight corner (yes! every. slice. is. a. corner.) deep dish pizza from Jet's.

And conveniently located next door to the Jet's we ritually frequent?

Why a Hurt's Donuts, whose display case overflows with incredibly sugar laden, food colored, sprinkled, cookie, candy garnished goodness.

With this in mind (and while counting down the minutes to pizza and donuts), I thought it would be fun to share some inspiring pins from my Friday's favorite indulgence.

Happy Friday and wishing you a whole bunch of weekend happy!

Pizza & Donuts

Unicorn Droppings

2020-01-23T11:43:00.000-06:00

Twice

How many times I went ass-over-elbows this AM, thanks to the ice on our driveway.

Six

How many stamped and addressed envelopes, filled with government paperwork and tax forms are sitting on the corner of my desk ready to be mailed.

Thirty eight

Days until spring, glorious spring.

The spring countdown is my unicorn poop (said "unicorn poop" candy pictured above), sprinkled into the less than magical detritus of winter.

In addition to the Great Spring Countdown, the following are some more nuggets-of-happy gleaned from around the interwebs. These pins have been feeding my inspiration, or simply making my soul smile:

Sunshine

I've been having a thing for pinning the sunshine these days:

The most perfect photo

I do believe this photo by Sara Morris may be the essence of perfection:

Say it with me

Mantras to both believe in & put on repeat:

Hope you found some happy in this first post of the unicorn droppings series, and looking forward to sharing more random pins of joy!

Failing Up

2020-01-21T12:17:00.000-06:00

I went to an art school that was so intense, we had semester reviews where students had the possibility of being put on probation, and ultimately kicked out of the program if their portfolio was deemed not strong enough.

Graduating with an excellent skillset and a thick-ish skin (totally against my nature as a precariously sensitive soul), I also learned in college to hide all my mistakes. All-nighters were a staple of my week. If you made an error on a rendering, it was not Bob Ross' world ... there were no happy little accidents in gauche or vellum renderings. You either X-acto'd or masked out your error, but mostly started completely over.

I spent much of my career refining precision. Pretty drawings get made into something, so the accuracy of tech packs are vital. And how many units of your designs are sold, or editorial attention they get, often relates to how good your next brief will be. There had been very little room in my career progress for failure.

However, when I started my own consultancy in 2009, it was ironically the first time that failure was an option.

Scratch that ... a necessity.

Even when the stakes have been the highest (my livelihood being tied directly to my pocket, so ultimately my family's stability), it has been incredibly freeing to finally have room for experimentation, discovery, and failure.

Oh goodness how much I learned getting Design Seeds up and running. The learning curve, all-nighters, and absolute face plants were critical in being able to create a color and inspiration site that is going strong after a decade. The continual learning curve has been one of the most insanely fulfilling aspects of the journey.

And in thinking about the importance of failure, it seems absolutely counterintuitive to be vulnerable in 2020. Cancel culture, trolls, and copycats occupy the interwebs in a way that is unrecognizable compared to 2009's web.

Despite all that, the beauty of connectivity, discovery, and expression are still vibrantly available in the blogging world, and that is why I am set on keeping a blog for HI HUES. And although grateful for what success I've been fortunate to experience this past decade, it's more important to lean into gratitude for the journey.

I don't want to dissect the failures, f*ck-ups, and flops from my successes. And it's not masochism keeping me "failure inclusive" ... but rather, kindness. Kindness to myself, and hopefully to others to show my journey is the farthest thing from a photoshopped, filter-applied, curated gallery.

Here's to the inevitable face-plant. At least we know we have skin in the game and are working towards failing up.

What about you? What have been your most spectacular fail-ups?

Color Cleanup

2020-01-12T17:25:00.000-06:00

When it comes to photography, I approach it much like a sketch, and only work in small bursts of time.

When photographing a new series or concept, I'll shoot for awhile ... but "put a pin in it" halfway through, to save finishing it for another day. I do this because I like to cycle a handful of concepts at a time, and believe that giving the process some "time to breath," helps keep the joy in discovery. It's rare as a creative to work without deadlines, so I give myself that gift when working on inspiration images.

I usually max out at an hour of working, put the camera (or phone) down (Point A), and walkaway to see what I've captured and edit it (Point B)

But there is an important transition between Point A and B. Part of my creative process is digesting what I've begun to create (through photography), and letting my subconscious feed me where to take it. And physically cleaning up after myself in the studio is part of freeing up my creative mind to do its thing.

Admittedly, I'm a bizarrely tidy and organized person. There are a lot of theories behind it (upbringing, my nature to control what I can, or I simply feel most comfortable in tidy spaces).

So how does this bring me to Color Cleanup?

Well, I find the incidental captures I take while tidying up, are sometimes my favorite. They don't make it into a formal post, but I personally still find inspiration in them.

That had me thinking about how it would be fun to share some of my favorites here on the blog :) Perhaps the confetti waiting to be packed back up, and the jelly soaked papers may trigger a little inspiration for someone else as well.

What about you? What creative rituals do you find integral to your process? Does cleaning help you in your process? Or do you thrive in the chaos?

Hi Honey

2020-01-10T13:16:00.000-06:00

Meet Honey :)

Honey is our 8 month old chihuahua, and an incredibly good doggo. We also have an eight year old chi named Pico.

Pico is a seasoned professional and finds the most comfortable surface to nap on while I work.

Honey?

... now that's an entirely different story.

Honey is curious, enthusiastic, and muscles her way into whatever project I'm working on. As a result, I am accruing a good amount of photo bombed color vignettes.

I thought what better way to share these unexpected captures, other behind the scenes insights, and create a space for conversation on the pure joy of color ... than create a HI HUES blog?

Thanks for popping over & looking forward to blogging, sharing, & hearing your thoughts!

disclaimer: no crayon shavings were consumed, but I can't say the same about the sprinkles