Sunday 29 September 2019

2019 #15 Topic Introduction: Coral (Colour)

 2019 Topic 15: Coral


Hello everyone, Keren here with our newest topic; Coral. It's no coincidence that this is not only Pantone's Colour of the Year for 2019 but also that PaperArtsy has a whole family of Coral Fresco Finish Chalk Acrylics! PaperArtsy are ahead of the trend again! 


Whilst our topic is centred around colour combinations of coral, it's worth pausing to think about the colour and its associations. Here's Pantone's official colour.


Pantone describe it as '...Living Coral emits the desired, familiar, and energizing aspects of color found in nature...this vivifying and effervescent color mesmerizes the eye and mind. Lying at the center of our naturally vivid and chromatic ecosystem, PANTONE Living Coral is evocative of how coral reefs provide shelter to a diverse kaleidoscope of color.' 
It's certainly energizing and I love how it helps remind us of the importance of our ecosystems and our need to realign our priorities to help preserve the world that we love. 
I've used coral tones for this theme- concentrating on various different pinky (and darker) oranges. We start off with a dark corally...umm coral on the PaperArtsy blog.




We've also got a lovely project from Jo Firth-Young on the PaperArtsy blog using the Fresco Finish Coral colour. The darker colour of Bougainvillea Fresco acts as the perfect contrast.


This next emotive piece links the subject and the colour seamlessly. Note the dark petrol-ly blues and the blue-y greens that make the coral really burst to life.


This similar but real photo, uses a different colour; a more vibrant turquoise that brings out the pink whereas the previous piece heightened the orange.


Nature provides the most amazing colours and this stunning sunrise shows dark yellows, oranges, purple and the contrast of green. Sublime!


I love this beautiful painting of a flamboyance of flamingos. The coral paired with the pink gives an instantly recognisable combo.


Creating a contemporary scheme is easy by using white and adding in a dark blue and turquoise/aqua. Anything in a Mason Jar is always going to 'up' the cool factor!



Perfect pairings are about the colours and textures too. Mustard and lime green bring earthy tones to this fun and wacky pairs of earrings.


Sometimes the impact of the colour is determined by the amount of it used and the other colours around it. Coral here is used in a lesser amount but still the eye is drawn to the vibrancy of it on this fabric design.


Coral is equally as happy in a rainbow scheme and zings its way onto this swoonworthy piece of art.



Having a collection of corals (is there a collective noun for it?!) is a good way of seeing it alongside pinky hues.


There is sumptuous texture in this quilted piece that shows some beautiful colours pairing perfectly with coral.

If you're looking for a new hair colour- why not try coral!! Doesn't it look gorgeous with the soft grey background.


For another vibe, soften the look with cornflower blues, soft yellows and ferny greens.


I'd never have thought as coral as a Christmassy colour, but doesn't it look wonderful on this Christmas greeting card, and gives a whole range of other colour combos too.


These coral-esque tones on these paper-like poppies looks amazing with a background of mossy greens with olive coloured stems.


I came across this floral bee and instantly fell in love with what the artist has created. Lisa Morales creates vibrant mixed media art themed around animals and florals and those dark corally flowers mix wonderfully with the other saturated colours.


This next piece of sculpture is breathtaking in size and impact. The artist took a year to create this ceramic installation 'Confluence' and is paying homage to Indonesia's coral reefs whilst highlighting climate change danger and coral bleaching. This piece takes us usefully full circle back to the colour within the subject. Perfect. 



I hope this dive into coral has inspired you. There are so many amazing combinations and if you haven't tried any of the PaperArtsy colours in the Coral family yet- they're well worth a look at! 

You're going to love the projects we have coming up for this topic. We are not doing the linked challenge  for 2019, so if you want to create along with us and this topic, please share on our social feeds so we can see what you get up to. The best places are Instagram @paperartsy or post in PaperArtsy People Group on Facebook. Make sure you tag us in your contributions, we love to see what you get up to in your creative world!

3 comments:

Miriam said...

Wow - such fabulous inspiration here - who would have thought Coral could be used with so many colours! I'm looking forward to this topic!

Etsuko said...

This is wonderful Topic, I love 'Coral' and color. These are awesome samples. xx

Lucy said...

What a brilliant intro post, Keren! How about a collective noun of 'a corral of corals'!

Lucy x