Silk Color Palette Challenge Introduction

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Where do you find your inspiration for color palettes for your art and your life?

Marsha Neal Studio Macro Image of Cone Flower

And what do you do with that inspiration?

Personally I am a color and texture addict.

I love pull a lot of my inspiration from photographs, art, magazines, nature.

Pinterest anyone???

It is all quite visual. If I can hold something - that visual then becomes combined with the way something feels and it is like inspiration overload...

This overload often leads me to get into the clay studio and start to work on new jewelry components.

Marsha Neal Studio ceramic clay accent beads - coming soon!

Then comes times to figure out how to work those components into finished pieces (boy am I thankful there are a lot of great jewelry designers out there willing to use my work in their designs!)

Marsha Neal Studio "Stormy Waters" Silk Knot Bundle

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And then there is the silk...

My actual silk obsession, as far back as I can remember, started as a child - in the JC Penney women's lingerie section. I remember asking my mom to park me in the stroller next to the slips while she shopped. I slept on a hand sewn pink silky pillow case and wore the silk off of my "baby blanket"...

My obsession with silk ribbons in a more formal way started when I used to travel to bead shows all across the United States to sell my ceramic pieces to jewelry designers. I met Ute, the woman that hand paints the silks I carry, out in Tucson in 2005 and I happily came home with a small batch of her hand painted silk ribbons to sell along with my beads.

Pretty soon I realized that people were not only coming to me for my ceramic work, but for the silks.

It was not long before I was ordering them in bulk batches by the thousands in three different types of silks (2mm, Silky and Fairy Ribbons) in over 70 colors.

One of my most enjoyable things to do while selling at bead shows was watch the color palettes people would pick out for a project they had in mind...

You can tell a lot about a personality by the colors (earthy, bright, neutral, cheery, etc).

One of my favorite palettes ever - all rich muted tones!

These days I have two little kids and I no longer travel to sell my work personally through shows.
I miss that face to face customer interaction...

My studio is in my house, and this is where I go every day to work.

Being an artist isn't always about being creative...
In my case it is more about being an artist that runs a business & trying to come up with fun interactive marketing ideas to keep my business alive.

That 90% work, 10% creative studio time is very realistic in my world.

"Mom - I like this one the best!" Purple - Yes!!! She is a bead girl in the making...

My energies are seriously focused on selling through my website and Etsy shop so I can keep my business up and running.

I still love to see what silk color palettes people pick out for their work as I pull silks to fill orders.

2mm Silk Ribbon Strands pulled for an order.

And feeling this joy from working with the silks and pulling them for your projects & getting to know so many people through social media outlets - it got me to thinking:

How can I get more people involved with this picking a color palette thing?
It makes me happy, it would make them happy too.
How to make it a challenge?
Network with other artists?
Have lots of fun, and give stuff away (I love giving stuff away!)...

This is where Marsha Neal Studio Silk Color Palette Challenge idea came about.

My thoughts:
Take a photo that inspires you (respect copyright, use & give credit or don't use it) and pull colors from that image and make a palette of (10) of the 2mm silks that I sell and make a "knot bundle".
Help me sell and promote it & run challenges of your own along with ones I will run here on my blog and we can have a blast with this stuff and get creative juices going.

And I can give stuff away (did I mention that already? Hmmm...)

So want your first chance at getting FREE stuff?

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.marshanealstudio.blogspot.com/p/silk-color-palette-challenge.html" title="Marsha Neal Studio Silk Color Palette Challenge"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU7UvNQMmAgEQnrehZYpH6oRcxQ_1Z72aIA5GKFWH1ETeZ7mb2u9qmBvaOw96x7fB0vAysg2ENIzN4_jTOV8M-NXP7yykk-oqocvhjC-IS6oZhuD_19XCWSdoNbtULajWATEuMF2SWcrFG/s200/Silk+Color+Palette+Challenge+Marsha+Neal+Studio+2012.jpg" alt="Marsha Neal Studio Silk Color Palette Challenge" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

First Way to Win: Feb. 29 to March 4, 2012 (closes midnight EST)

1. Add the silk color palette button to your blog sidebar or website to help me promote this event (copy and paste the html code into a html gadget on your blog - for blogger. Other blogs, not sure how it is done).

*You can copy and paste your blog address into the comment if you share the button so I can check it out too (I love finding new cool blogs to follow - don't you?)

2. Tweet, Share on FB, whatever social media outlet you take part in...

3. Then comment here on this post that you have done so for every action you take.

*Every comment you leave for each action gets you one entry for a drawing for a free (10) 2mm silk knot bundle of your choice from the 12 finalist palettes.

Second Way to Win: Stop back from March 1 to March 4 and vote for your favorite palette (closes midnight EST).

Want to get more chances at winning another silk knot bundle for you AND for one of the 12 finalists? Then stop back here on March 1 to March 4 to vote for your favorite palette(s) and then leave one comment once you have voted (one comment per person please) and you will be entered into the drawing to win a 2mm silk knot bundle of your choice. The "12 palette finalist artist" with the top voted palette gets to select a 2mm silk knot bundle for themselves too...

Third way to win:

For any of the silk knot bundles of the 12 finalist color palettes you purchase from March 1 to March 4, you will get an entry to win an additional 2mm silk knot bundle of your color choice AND a free pair of my new porcelain clay beads in your glaze color choice (you pick round, chevron inspired, or shard inspired). Purchase must be made by Midnight EST on March 4, 2012.

New Marsha Neal Studio Bead Sets for my Etsy shop!

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My Etsy shop will be updated on Monday, March 5, 2012 with a pendant destash (selected items in a designated section) as well as all of my new bead sets you see in the photo above will be listed for sale.

And if you were around last time for my destash sale - you know I like to give even more stuff away!

So get ready for some fun!

Make sure you are a fan of my Marsha Neal Studio FaceBook page so you can get in on some of the destash purchasers giveaway actions starting Monday!

Now - quick - go add that button to your blog and start sharing (don't forget to comment!) 

I want YOU to win something!!!