Do you want a wonderful way to fill your world with color and have a soothing calming experience? The Color Meditation Deck by Lisa Solomon is a relaxing way to play with your watercolors or other art supplies. I have used mine over and over when I want to paint, but don’t know what I want to paint. It’s enjoyable to play with the colors and create art without having high expectations for a finished product. The joy is in the process and experience.
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All about the Color Meditation Deck
The deck comes inside a nice sturdy box with a lid that easily opens and stays secure when shut with a magnet. When you open it you will find a small book written by Lisa Solomon with an introduction, a crash course in color theory, recommended supplies and how to use the deck. There are 52 5×5 inch cards in the deck with an example of color prompt you can do on the front and a short explanation on the back.
How to use the deck
Start by choosing a prompt card, follow the pattern on the front and start painting! If you want more ideas read the suggestions on the back. I tend to enjoy the experience more if I don’t overthink it. It is very calming to “get in the zone” and just paint for fun.
Some of the color exercises have produced something I really like, others aren’t anything special to look at, but it was still enjoyable to experiment and create something. This has been a good way for me to play with my watercolors and mix and create new color combinations.
Parameter cards
If you want a different challenge take a look at one of the parameter cards. These cards give some guidelines to follow like using a limited palette or choosing warm colors. The ideas are endless when you combine different parameters to different color prompt cards.
Color meditation group activity
I plan to invite some friends who enjoy doing art to join me for an afternoon of playing with color. I think doing it with others would be a fun way to share a creative experience and see how each person uses different cards for inspiration. The prompts could also be used as a warm up activity in an art class.
Great color activity to do with children
I took my Color Meditation Deck with me when we went to visit my daughter and her family. My two grandchildren and my daughter and I had fun creating together. It was a great activity to do with children! Children are naturally creative and love to play with color without worrying about the finished product. I was impressed with the art they created. You can read more about my experience of doing this color activity with my grandkids on my other website readaloudgrandma.com.
More Color Love
I also really like the book Local Color: Seeing Place Through Watercolor by Mimi Robinson. Designer, Mimi Robinson shares in her book how to become more aware of the colors around us. She also gives ideas of how to capture those colors and record them in watercolor grids then use them in paintings. The last chapter is a lesson on color theory, but most of the book you learn from looking at the beautiful color samples and photos. If you visit Mimi’s website www.localcolorcollective.com you can get a good sense of what the book is like and Mimi Robinson’s color study style.
Another great book on color is Color In and Out of the Garden: Watercolor Practices for Painters, Gardners, and Nature Lovers by Lorene Edwards Forkner. I love the color grids she creates in watercolor inspired by a flower or something else from nature. Her color grids were inspired by an exhibit she saw of Mimi Robinson’s work. It inspired her to start a daily practice of recording colors from her garden. Her color grids are similar to the ones in Local Color.
Lorene loves to garden and writes a gardening column for the Seattle Times. Her book includes tidbits about gardening, nature and even a few recipes. I started following Lorene years ago on instagram. She has expanded her color studies has a few with a more abstract variation of the popular color grids she makes.
I’m glad I have the kindle version of both of these books. They are great books to look at when I’m traveling or need some color inspiration.
Take a look at my new website!
In August 2020 I started reading online to my grandchildren, who live hundreds of miles away. A few years and over a thousand books later we are still reading together on FaceTime. I created readaloudgrandma.com to help other grandparents that want to have a rewarding experience reading aloud to children they love!
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