Color Palette: 50's Kitchen Wallpaper

The hunt for color palette ideas always leads me to great websites and images on the web.  Currently I am working on a collection of paintings with a vintage kitchen theme.  I am focusing on the 1950s because I love the appliances from that decade and I love the primary colors in a lot of the wallpaper.  

One site I found that sells over 1000 vintage wallpaper patterns is Second Hand Rose.  Here are some samples:

Wallpaper from the "Kitchen Wallpaper" series

Palette Potion

I love mixing up paint colors so much.  It feels to me like mixing a magic potion.  You start with a little bit of one color, add a touch of another color and maybe a drop of one more color, mix it all up and voila - a new beautiful color appears.  I love it!

Here is a blotch of a deep blue green that I mixed up yesterday. It made such a pretty design when I mixed it with turpentine so I took some photos.  Don't these pictures make you think of the ocean??

Design Trend: Floral print with a dark background

I've noticed that floral print is very big right now.  I see it on dresses, blouses, bedding, even stationery.  A twist to this theme that I really like is the floral print with a black or dark colored background.  Here are some finds from the web:

A rug from Anthropologie.

Elizabeth and James New Romantic Shirt

Black Floral Print Skirt from Arden B

These prints inspire me to do something like it in a new floral collection!!  

Inspiration: Vintage Kitchen Utensils

Since I have been on a kick to paint baked goods, I thought another interesting and fun series would be vintage kitchen utensils.  I also love the colors from 1950's kitchen decor.  Here is some inspiration I found on the web.  Source: Ad: vintage Tala ad, Photos:  Country Living Magazine online