Janice's Blog


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Get in touch with your Creative Side and be amazed!



janice lindsay collage workshop blog
Collage workshop: Aida Gonzalez Fry’s work in progress.
There is not a soul on earth who does not have a creative streak running through them and a child-like joy that gets released when allowed to mess with paint and paper, exploring the world of colour and shape...or so I thought. That is why my friend Lorraine and I decided to bring New York artist David Hornung to Toronto for a colour and collage workshop. And this wasn’t the first time. David is a professor of colour courses whose book, Colour: A Workshop for Artists and Designers, was so inspirational that last year Lorraine and I got him to come here and teach us colour mixing.
david hornung collage workshop in toronto with janice lindsay
David Hornung showing us colour mixing.
Like the time before, we rounded up nine others who were willing to book off an entire week and we settled in to Lorraine’s wonderful studio.
janice lindsay collage workshop blog
Lorraine’s normally tidy studio by day two. Just being there makes you feel like an artist.
And then it happened. I realized I was dreadful at collage! It was not just that I was positioned at a table between two brilliant collage artists – my friend Aida Gonzalez Fry, a painter and colour designer from Florida and my daughter Caroline – always an inspiration.
janice lindsay collage workshop blog
Me with my daughter, Caroline Macfarlane of The Good Bike fame.
As Aida and Caroline magically produced one wonderful piece after another, as if born collaging, I struggled and pushed and forced paper and paint into submission in the most unsatisfying way. And so it continued: day one…day two… I was resigning myself to the knowledge that we can’t all be good at everything. I might think I am brilliant at selecting the best colours for a client’s home but that doesn’t mean I don’t “suck” at collage.
janice lindsay collage workshop blog
The work starting to come together. The two top works are by Sharyn Adler Gitalis, a friend, colour and lighting designer, and artist in her own right.
Day three something started to click for me. I started getting into a groove. Things seemed to come together almost by themselves. It was great! Almost effortless and so satisfying. Suddenly I was making pieces that even looked wall-worthy. Collage was amazing!!! I had begun.
janice lindsay collage workshop blog
Sharyn, Helene Vinet, old friend and artist Barbara Todd at her computer, and quilt artist Joyce Seagram.
So this is what I learned: To accomplish something new, or something that does not come easily, we have to allow ourselves time. If you are successful from the get-go, challenge yourself to go to the next level, the place where you are tempted to give up and to say you can’t do it. We may not have the mythic 10,000 hours to truly become accomplished, but I am convinced that if we can be in a place without the phone beeping, the internet tempting, and life interrupting, we can all accomplish great things.
janice lindsay collage workshop blog
The group critique. Barbara, Marilyn, Patsy, Joyce (seated), Roz Kavander and Lorraine. Most sporting the aprons cut from a roll of plastic sheeting.
It is harder to do it alone. David Hornung was a fabulous guide and guru. But he wasn’t joking when he said we should all come back together for another week without him. There was such a power to the collective energy in the space. It is a total pleasure to be single-mindedly focused in a room full of people with a similar intent. I speculate it would be like running a marathon or just getting through an exercise class, we do better in a group. We don’t give up. We go just a little further, try just a little harder…and we have more fun.
janice lindsay collage workshop blog
Roz Kavander, my friend and my travel buddy when I go to CMG colour conferences.
And, in case I ever doubted it, I am convinced we are all creative. We just need to make the time and find the place where we can let it come out. If we can’t find that, then we have to invent it for ourselves.
janice lindsay collage workshop blog
Caroline’s works in progress.
The best things happen when, one way or another, you just do it!

If you are an artist, designer or latent creative type and want to be contacted in the spring of 2013 about the next workshop then let me know. Hornung’s book will be re-released this fall and is a must have for anyone who is serious about colour.
 

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Monday, March 19, 2012

Black Magic


6 Reasons to Cross Over to the Dark Side – NOW!

janice lindsay painting blog black
Aussie Restaurant

The first time I ever got to choose the colour for a room I chose black. I was seventeen. It was a large room in our basement and I painted the fake wood paneled walls black, high gloss black. That was when my love affair with black began.

janice lindsay painting blog black
Poodle Head. Designer, Abigail Ahern

Black’s beauty comes as a surprise to most people. When I suggest it to clients they think it will be depressing, that it will suck the life-blood right out of them, or that it is only suitable for their rebellious teenage kids. But those who take the plunge are invariably shocked to find out how fabulous it is and wonder why on earth they waited so long. Here are six reasons why black is a fantastic wall colour:

janice lindsay painting blog black
Abigail Ahern

Black is relaxing. We live in a world of visual over-drive – over 80% of information is received visually. We need black, the colour of quiet, to chill out. Darkness reduces visual input while enhancing our other senses; this why we close our eyes when we kiss and dim the lights at concerts. In a black room you can hear yourself think. In a busy, urban, largely white world, we need black for psychological balance.

janice lindsay painting blog black
Bedroom image from Sheri Martin Interiors

Black is neutral. If your chromatic comfort zone is neutrals, black adds drama, interest and rhythm into the palette while avoiding “colour”. It is important to use value – light to dark – effectively if you are working with a neutral palette, otherwise it will be flat. Extend beyond pale and midtone values into black or charcoal for depth and variety.

janice lindsay painting blog black
Living room image from Sheri Martin Interiors

janice lindsay painting blog black
Stairway. Abigail Ahern

Black makes small spaces bigger. Our eyes do not focus on black surfaces. They seem to look through them into a deep void. Add gloss to take it further and exaggerate the effect. Use black to double the width of a narrow powder room, the breadth of a small vestibule or the height of low basement ceilings.

janice lindsay painting blog black
Fireplace. Abigail Ahern

Black is slimming. The little-black-dress principle works for everything from furniture to cabinets. Black reduces bulk so use it for sofa upholstery and paint it on bookcases, fireplaces and cabinetry or any protuberance that seems too big for the room. Outside use black on large sheds or garages to reduce their size.

janice lindsay painting blog black
Abigail Ahern

Black hides flaws and emphasizes features. Our eye is drawn to light things and floats over dark. At night we look at stars, not sky. So paint anything that is ugly, flawed or boring black to make it go away. Then notice how black walls, like the frame around a painting, are the background against which everything looks great! Black makes it easy to create focal points. Decorating a black room requires few but better pieces making you the curator of what it is you want to feature and enjoy.

janice lindsay painting blog black
Abigail Ahern and her London home.

Replace white with black for a beautiful exterior. Black, off-black, charcoal or dark brown trim and details can give even rather ordinary brick or stone homes a sophistication that white does not. Homes become more Japanese in style or contemporary. Garage doors are less in-your-face. But the real magic is the garden. Any fences or structures that are painted with dark colours take on a gentler presence and let the colours of nature be the star of the show. Against black all colour glows.

janice lindsay painting blog black
Shiny black. Abigail Ahern

Nineteenth century British artist J. M. W. Turner said you cannot paint light without dark colours. I think we need dark walls to really see and appreciate the light spaces; they seem so much brighter by comparison.

janice lindsay painting blog black
Light. Abigail Ahern

Tips:

  • If you are using black on all the walls and the ceiling, a pale floor is good for balance.
  • White is black’s complementary colour so black and white is a very powerful combo. Avoid using them in equal amounts. Use one as the dominant colour and the other as accent. One black wall or a black ceiling in a white room works well. Black and white checkered things are busy. Replace the white with tan or stone grey to soften the contrast on floors and back splashes. Mix black and off-white instead of white for a Chanel elegance.
  • Avoid black floors. They are as hard to keep clean as white, if not harder! Gloss finish will reveal flaws on a surface. If your walls are in bad shape still to low sheen finishes embrace the flaws.

janice lindsay painting blog black
Room in the Hotel Chelsea

Fave blacks from my Coming Home Colour Collection for PPG Pittsburgh Paints:

  • Black Magic 518-7 a true black.
  • Black Elegance 531-7 a slightly purple black.
  • Knight’s Armor 518-6 charcoal with a touch of blue, great exterior colour!
  • Gibraltar Gray 530-6 a warm lead colour for those who want to ease over to the dark side.

As one of my black-loving clients once said to me: Black is the colour of confidence. You just have to have the confidence to use it.

Please send me your dark stories!

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Monday, February 13, 2012

My Highlights from this years Interior Design Show, IDS



Piero Lissoni BY_Lissoni lounge interior design show 2012
BY_Lissoni lounge designed by Piero Lissoni, IDS 2012's International Guest of Honour

I loved this year’s exciting Interior Design Show. It had a good buzz, lots of variety and good colour sightings.

For subtle colour, great texture and the sophisticated comfort of my fave “style” - Warm Modern - the award goes to the BY_Lissoni, a lounge by Italian designer-architect Piero Lissoni. At first glance the 1200 square foot space, with furnishings by his brand partners - Living Divani, Lema, Porro & Flos - looked all white: walls, shelves, gauze ceiling, even white-washed floors by Moncer, but it becomes clear Lissoni knows the key to working with white: good light and lots of texture.

BY_Lissoni detail IDS 2012

The shelves were filled with tightly packed paper-backs, their white washed spines and aged ecru pages created a soft graphic pattern that added with warmth and texture (the comfort of books abstracted). Other shelves held African artifacts adding to the beauty and soul of hand-made one-of-a-kind objects. No “decorative” colour interrupted the strict palette of whites and naturals. Furniture juxtaposed cool white – the marble coffee table – with the toasty hues and varied textures of the burlap-like sofa fabric and objects in leather and wood. I badly wanted to take the booth, lock stock and barrel, and install in my living room.

branch
"How Do I Look?", painted cherry wood art by Rob Day

From the all-Canadian True North part of the show, my object of desire was the tree-part turned sculpture by Rob Day. He painted nature’s cast-off in horizontal stripes (which always look happy to me) and poised it cheekily on an old banister knob. If it were not $6000 I would love to commission hundreds of them to lean in dull, grey, straight-edged work-places or anonymous hallways all over town. Psychologically, we always get a sense of home and belonging from bits of nature in our unnatural environments. Plants, flowers, a view of trees, even a landscape painting or floral carpet can help. This piece gives homey a new spin.

shiny blue floor interior design show ids 2012

There were sightings of shiny clean light blue in surprising places - a glazed fireplace surround and the floor of this booth. The combination of light blue and shine can be discombobulating on a floor– as if you are walking on water or about to fall through ice – but that is why it was novel and fun to experience.

relative space carpet tiles interior design show 2012

Relative Space featured FreeSCALE a collection of eco-friendly carpet tiles by Vorwerk. Goodbye 9 x 12 or 6 x 8. With these tiles your carpet does not have to be square. Now your carpet can be any size, shape or colour combination. Flip the shape around to create curves or bends, add or subtract to suit your space. Pull one or two out for glimpses of your floor. And if you change your wall colour why not change out a few tiles to match? Or, change the palette seasonally? The mind boggles at the possibilities.

tokyo carpet w studio ids 2012 toronto

What about making the carpet the art in a room? The Tokyo carpet from W Studio has a painterly colour combination and graffiti-like patterning.


woodlight lighting interior ids 2012

Lighting fixtures ranged from simple to sassy; from the clean lines of fixtures made of wood veneer by Woodlight to L’Atelier Non-Useless’s UP lamp.

up light

The PVC pole comes with stretchy fabric sleeves that can be moved up or down or scrunched to adjust the level and position of light. This prototype will be produced for a cost of about $70 a foot and sized to fit your room height if enough people want one. I signed up for two.

bocci light balls 28

And just when I thought I had seen it all and was on my way to the escalators, I saw Bocci’s latest lights called 28. The hand blown glass balls come in any colour (or clear) and can be suspend to any length individually or in clusters ($750 each from Kiosk). Half a dozen of mixed colours would look pretty cool over my dining table.

So I would say that this year’s show was the best in years. It did what you want and fear a design show will do: send you home with fresh ideas, a lot of décor zeal, and a strong desire to make some big changes! Hmmmm…


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Friday, January 27, 2012
The Beauty of Blues Go Deep

martin cederblad picture of sara sjogren designed blue room

Martin Cederblad's picture of blue room designed by Swedish stylist and designer, Sara Sjögren.

What is the most commonly stated “favourite colour”? Blue! Not aqua or baby blue but royal blue, indigo, or its more vivid family member that is the colour originally made from Lapis Lazuli. This last colour was, for centuries, the most prized, rare and expensive of hues, literally worth its weight in gold. Only the wealthy could afford this blue, and they used to make artists and artisans sign a contract for how much good blue they would get and where it would be used. Inspectors would make surprise visits to ensure no less expensive blues were being substituted.

In my work as a colour designer, what is the colour my clients most rarely use? Yup, royal blue. The exception is accent walls in a sporty child’s bedroom.

The demise of blue began when blue no longer had to be shipped from exotic and hard to reach places in Afghanistan and laboured over for months to turn into usable pigment. In the mid nineteenth century the chemical industry was producing all sorts of bold new artificial colours. (This made Impressionism possible.) Blue became just one of the many. Van Gogh still thought blue was the divine colour. For Picasso, poor and lonely in turn-of-the-century Paris, it was the colour of sadness and longing – his blue period.

kves klein ikb blue painting

A Yves Klein painting done in his signature colour, IKB, found on postandgrant.co.

French artist Yves Klein invented a recipe for an artificial blue that he thought rivaled the beauty of the natural pigment. So thrilled with the colour he called IKB (International Klein Blue) was he that he took out a patent on it and painted a series of all blue canvases.

Today stores selling china, jewelry and glassware use blue for the displays because blue is the colour of things we cannot touch or hold – water, air, and space – so, psychologically, it says Do Not Touch. In advertising it is the colour most often used by banks because it conveys honesty and trustworthiness. In clothing blue has always been the conservative colour of uniforms, blazers and the easy going denim. It is a way to wear colour without appearing colourful.

So why not on walls?

Naho Kubota Jeffrey Inaba’s pop-up café Whitney Museum of American Art 2010 Biennial

Naho Kubota's photograph of Jeffrey Inaba’s pop-up café, located in the halls of the Whitney Museum of American Art for the 2010 Biennial, which uses blue light to create a surreal ambiance.

Perhaps it is time to disassociate the colour with sports and see it as van Gogh did – the divine colour - and tap into its unearthly beauty.

powder room

In this powder room I used blue wallpaper, blue gloss on the ceiling and the client added a black mirror to complete the surroundings.

Use blue as an alternative to red in a dining room and as a way to expand the dimensions and drama of a powder room. Deep royal blue alters space, blurs the shape and size, and transforms a room into a mysteriously magical world with surrealistic splendor. It can be had without the requiring a king’s ransom!

room with colour design by janice lindsay

In this room I used shine on the walls and gold on the ceiling for warmth and drama. I cannot imagine how unpleasant white would be here!

Tips on using indigo: Go all the way. The key is to be submerged in this colour. You are creating a three-dimensional atmosphere – space - not defining an area. No white ceiling and trim!! They interrupt the ambiance.

blue trim

Blue trim! Painting trim the same colour as the walls or ceiling prevents colour interruption.

Paint the trim the same blue as the walls or a deep colour. Ditto the ceiling. though gold, metallic or mirror finishes are also good because they bounce light and add shimmer. Alternatively, use a second and slightly lighter blue, for example, with a dark blue like PPG Pittsburgh Paints 349-7 Dragonfly on the walls, use PPG 348-5 Shrinking Violet on the ceiling.

graffiti from san fran

Blue Graffiti: This mural in San Francisco has an interesting blue based palette that avoids complementary colours that kill blue’s mood.

Sheen will increase depth and space. Feel free to use satin finish on all surfaces: walls, trim, ceiling. The floor or carpeting can be lighter or brighter, a contrast, a relief.

pop up cafe rockwell group new york

Pop-up café designed by the Rockwell Group, NYC

Furnish the space with things that are white or bright, have crystal or sparkling surfaces. Metals are good. Expand the palette into magenta and berry colours. Blue is the deep background against which these things play.

Note: Blue is not always cold. It gets warmer as it gets darker. Blues can be warm if you choose one that leans away from the turquoise and green side of the colour wheel and goes toward purple and red where it picks up warm undertones. Try PPG Pittsburgh Paints 347-6 Blue Odyssey, PPG 348-7 Brilliant Blue, or PPG 445-7 Royal Hyacinth from my Coming Home Colour Collection. (Ask for a big chip or a brochure.)


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Sunday, December 18, 2011
I Hate Decorating!

A beautiful room is designed not decorated. Decoration means adornment or ornamentation. Design, at its best, is about function handled beautifully. Good design is what Apple products and the humble brown paper bag have in common (note the little serrated top edge that prevents you from getting a paper cut). Nothing is frivolous, every detail is considered and a quiet beauty emerges from function driven form. This is why a beautifully designed room, chair or object will never go out of style while decorated things become dated period pieces.

charles section couch

Charles Eames sofa via Apartment Therapy

If I could afford it, my sofas would be designed by Antonio Citterio or Christian Liaigre and distilled so that design becomes almost invisible, felt as much as seen. Why are so many mid-century furniture pieces by the likes of Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen selling as much, if not more, now than when they were designed 80 years ago? It is because they represent aesthetically appealing solutions to everyday functions. No one will bang their knees on a Saarinen table base AND the marble top won’t stain and does not feel cold to the touch because of extra layers of lacquer. The beveled edge adds to the sculptural quality. His Womb Chair is as comfy as a big and beefy armchair but it is nimble, and light enough to turn to the window or pull up to a table rather than staying parked permanently in one spot. Buy well, buy once, and get pleasure forever. Good design is like an expensive bargain.

saarenen tulip table

Eero Saarinen table via Oliver Yaphe

When I do colour, some might think this is surface not function and therefore entirely decorative. I disagree. Good colour is also about feel and function. I don’t decorate with it. I renovate! (In the up and coming weeks I will share with you how colour can be used to adjust scale and proportion to balance a space.) Most importantly, it balances energy levels, making a place feel calm or exciting and everything in between. Colour is about customizing physical space to fit the people. It is not about having fun with bold hits of hue. As Dieter Rams, designer for Braun, put it, “Good design is as little design as possible”. So when the son of a client said he knew I'd used 24 colours in his mum’s condo but he could only see twelve, I asked if it looked good. He said yes. I like to think that that’s good design.

saarenen womb chair

Eero Saarinen wombchair via Style Estate

Suggested viewing on Dieter and the subject we just discussed is the documentary film, Objectified.

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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Australian House Beautiful for May


I am in the month's Australian House Beautiful! I did have a good time over there speaking at the Design and Furniture Fair and would go back at the drop of a hat. Especially if I could stop in Fiji again en route. - It is such a hard life having to travel about to share my passion for Colour and Design.

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Thursday, February 4, 2010

Unhappy Hipsters Great Site!


Unhappy Hipsters: "Trapped by the tawny palette, he struggled through yet another brown knit scarf.
(Photo: Randi Berez; Dwell, September 2005)"

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