Exploration #7: World of Color

Exploration #7: World of Color
Collect paint chips from a paint or hardware store. Find colors you respond to in the world. Attempt to match them using the chips. Make notes of where you saw the colors.


I had grand plans for this Exploration task: to go outside and match the paint chips to things in my garden and surrounding yard. I would take photographs of all the glorious things I would find on top of the paint chips, the two colors melding into one. However, this was probably not a great idea considering it was nearly 100 degrees with 100% humidity. Also, it was not easy to find colors to match because all the plants are done blooming. After spending two hours finding just two items,  I got heatstroke.

A floral stem from my Asparagus fern

Yellow Marigolds from my garden

I then decided to do what was shown in the book and match the paint chips to different colors found in my air-conditioned home and just write them on the chips. Click on the picture to see it large and read the colors.

Matching Sami's (my tortoise shell cat) fur was the most challenging. I had about 10 chips of different browns and only one matched some of her fur. She has so many colors! Even the black in her fur isn't true black. And every time I stuck a paint chip into her fur, she turned around and yelled at me. :)

Despite the frustration I felt in not being able to find a bunch of things in nature due to the heat, I'm keeping the paint chips for Springtime when things are in bloom and will continue my plan of matching colors. I definitely took enough from the hardware store to last a lifetime!

Exploration #1: Right Where You Are Sitting

Lita and I are embarking on a new challenge of being "Explorers of the World". Although we both live our life as explorers of the world already, we can use a refresher course of how to see, smell, observe, collect and document the world around us. There will be fifty-eight assignments that will help us see the world in a new and exciting way. Our experiences will be blogged about, mine here and Lita's on a new blog created specifically for this challenge. Perhaps it will inspire you to follow along and also become an Explorer of the World.
So, here we go on our adventure with Exploration #1:

Right Where You Are Sitting

Write 10 things about where you are sitting right now that you hadn't noticed before when you sat down

1)  The window has peeling tint. Just another thing that needs to be upgraded. *sigh*
2)  The view would be better if I removed the window screens.
3)  The cat takes up half the desk. I never realized that before. Should have gotten a longer desk. :)
4)  The room has become cluttered. I really must take some time to declutter and get some breathing space.
5)  Out the window a lizard is perched on a bamboo stake.
6)  The sunflowers have become a bit droopy as the weather heats up. :(
7)  My project pile has gotten huge. I wish someone would invent a pause button for time.
8)  The birdbath is empty. Yesterday, a squirrel was hanging upside down while drinking from it.
9)  There is thread on the floor from my recent sewing. Need to get that up before my cat eats it!
10) The fig tree is bearing fruit! Soon, it will be full of squirrels gorging themselves.

It might have been a more interesting first assignment had I actually been sitting in the garden and not my desk when I started. But, this challenge is about being spontaneous as well as observant and I want it to be an entirely organic experience. And this is where I was sitting when the assignment came through from Lita. So, what did I get out of this first assignment? Besides the fact that the garden needs my attention, I realized that I have put a lot of things on the "back burner" which are now piling up and cluttering my life. In order to be an explorer of the world, I need to eliminate those things that keep me tied to the shoreline. I will focus on doing just that until the next challenge comes along!