Color Inspiration

What inspires you to choose the colors you do for your projects?

 I know what inspires me is usually first who am I making something for?  I'm usually not going to make something in neutrals for a person who loves bright, bold colors.  Under this will also come the question of how will it be used?  I don't do slippers in white since dirt tends to get ground into the soles.  I don't dress babies in really dark colors.

Second, my personal preferences.  I can't knit or crochet with colors I hate.  I can't knit or crochet with colors I can't see (black comes to mind at this stage of life).  I can usually bend my choices to the recipient's likes and dislikes.

Third, season of the year is a big part of my color selection.  In winter, I feel a need to work with blacks, grays, whites, blues of an icy nature and red.  

Lots of gray, white and cold blues here

In spring, I'm going to gravitate to spring colors of not only the pastels, but deep purple of crocus, deep greens and yellow-y greens of the leaves.  

The red maple has pinky purple leaves in the background and the tri color beech is pink

Here are the saturated colors of spring

Summer brings all colors of the rainbow in fruits and vegetables and flowers.  There are very few color pairings from this selection I don't like.  I'm even happy about the beige that reminds me of sand and I usually can't stand beige of any kind.  I will usually separate my palettes by what I consider beach-y, garden-y, floral, camping type colors and so on.  I don't mix my palettes either.

A favorite

In perpetual summertime

The gardens in this Mission are amazing

Flowers and weeds, like bushes and trees can have many color facets

This being autumn, I really gravitate to plummy purples, cranberry reds, pumpkin oranges, yellows of most vibrant hues, dark pine-y greens, dirty looking browns and the two colors of blue I associate with autumn, either the gray blue of wind clouds/rain clouds or the vibrant blue of an October sky.  I have been known to pair many of these colors together.  After all, if Mother Nature can, why can't I?

Autumn harvests and thanksgiving are 2 favorites of mine for color

I find this very inspirational

Holidays will also inspire me and summer brings a host of red, white and blue to my work.  I am a traditionalist with most of my other holiday hues as well.

So I ask again, what inspires your color choices?