August 23, 2016

Aqua

Welcome back to my Color Inspiration series. This month I'm looking at aqua.

It's hot, hot, hot, and dry, dry, dry here in Colorado.  The weather has me dreaming of the beautiful, clear, aqua waters of a beach like Trunk Bay in the Virgin Islands. I had the best time of my life snorkeling around the little islands shown below.

Springleaf Studios, Trunk Bay
Springleaf Studios, Trunk Bay


Have you packed your bags yet?  Pleeeeease take me with you.  : )

Aqua is the quintessential color of sandy beaches and inviting swimming pools. After all, the word aqua is Latin for water. It's a very serene, calm, and refreshing color. 

If you think turquoise instead of aqua though, you might envision the southwest United States.  Places like New Mexico and Arizona. Things like turquoise gates, fences and window trim . . . 

aqua, color inspiration,
aqua, color inspiration, Springleaf Studios, HST quilts, half square triangle quilts

Thinking of the southwest also calls to mind turquoise jewelry. This beautiful piece by my daughter mixes a touch of southwest turquoise with an ocean theme. You can see more jewelry on her website, Emily Claire Studio.

Emily Claire Studio, Emily Claire Jewelry, turquoise jewelry, turquoise necklace
Emily Claire Studio, Emily Claire Jewelry, turquoise jewelry, turquoise earrings


Aqua, turquoise, robin's egg blue, verdigris, spruce, teal, mint, azure . . . these are just some of the words that describe variations of this lovely color. Aqua is a mix of blue and green with a touch of white. Take it to the darker side and you have teal. In terms of web colors, aqua is considered the same as cyan. 

When I looked around my home environment, I realized aqua doesn't play much of a part. Years ago, we had a little southwest flavor in our home decor with a dusty teal accent wall and hints of aqua here and there. At the time we were influenced by visiting Taos NM on a regular basis. Times have changed, as has our home, and there's not much aqua or turquoise to be found . . . except when it comes to quilting.

Looking through my quilts, I've made quite a few using a cool color range. While they don't all use strictly aqua fabrics, many use fairly equal amounts of green fabrics and blue fabrics, with the end result being an overall aqua feeling. This quilt was made for a dear friend and her island home in the Pacific Northwest and is probably the most aqua of all. 

Kaffe Fassett nine patch quilt, Kaffe Fassett, Springleaf Studios, aqua, color inspiration,


One of my all time favorite quilts is this one made from the Cascade pattern. It is mostly aquas and greens accented with purple. I think aqua and purple can be a stunning color combination. 

Cascade quilt pattern, Kaffe Fassett, Springleaf Studios, quilt pattern, aqua, color inspiration,


Another new quilt features a similar aqua and purple combination, but with the emphasis leaning more strongly toward the blues. Watch for this one to be a new pattern soon.

Kaffe Fassett, Kaffe Fassett fabrics, Kaffe Fassett quilt, aqua, color inspiration,


In addition to these quilts, I've had a few fabric combos pulled for a long time that feature aqua. The first combines lovely variations of aqua with touches of chartreuse and gray. The chartreuse brings a real zing to the calmness of the aqua and gray. Love it! I have another fabric grouping featuring mostly aquas with an accent of citrine. Love that group too. 

aqua fabrics, aqua

Then there's my cool colored stripe collection which reminds me of the beach. Hmmm . . . must get busy and start making quilts with these lovely fabric combos.

aqua stripe fabrics, aqua


Probably a good thing I'm not a knitter or I'd be rather distracted from my fabrics by this beautiful variegated blue-green yarn. Gorgeous.




Wrapping up this post with some aqua vegetation. In Colorado we have a lot of blue spruce trees. Now I usually think of trees as green, but I never think of a blue spruce as being either blue or green. It's kind of a dusty aqua. Spruce. We planted this one when it was a single, little, tiny sprout only about 4 inches tall. Now it's well over 30 feet and way way too close to our front porch. What were we thinking? 



In keeping with the challenge my daughter gave me at the beginning of my color series, I'm including more true aqua leaves to finish up. You know I love leaves.  : )  Once you start looking it's really not hard to find leaves in every color of the rainbow. Seriously. Try it. 

Springleaf Studios, leaves, aqua
Springleaf Studios, cabbage leaves


When I started this color series, my intention was to really look for the color in my own personal world. To see the color around me in my house, my environment and my experiences. For that reason I've chosen to use my own photos rather than rely on the abundance of beautiful photos and color schemes available through sites like Pinterest and Design Seeds. These sites are wonderful places for inspiration on color but I want my series to be personal . . . representative of the color I see around me.

You can see all my other color stories under the Color Inspiration tab at the top of my blog. If you'd like to see additional beautiful color images, you can follow my Pinterest color boards here. Just look for the specific color boards or my Color Scheme board. There are some beautiful color images.

I challenge you to look around your home, your neighborhood, your work and really see the colors in your world. Go look for some Aqua in your life. Thanks for reading.

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6 comments:

  1. Such gorgeous inspiration!!! It is one of my favorite colors too.

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  2. Love your blog. Colour, nature, weather, quilts - all the topics I enjoy. Your colour choices are fabulous.

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  3. just beautiful photos, my daughters favorite color, so soothing.
    thank you

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  4. Oh, Anne...you color stories are phenomenal! I'm rather fond of aqua! I just love the photographs of the two gates. And your daughter's jewelry is beautiful! All so lovely!

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  5. So beautiful. I had to break out a separate section of aquas and their relatives from the blue cubby, as I was getting so many. I love your color posts; this one is no exception!

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  6. Aqua seems like such an uncommon color, we don’t get to see it much around us but I’m surprised to see how you were able to find so many aqua colored things around you.

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