Friday, May 18, 2007

Colours and movies

I have changed my first photos in my Etsy store to have coloured backgrounds. I wanted to have more colour in the pictures because the white tends to look kind of grey. I have a peachy-creamsicle colour, an aqua, a green, and a lavender-ish purple.

We made sheets of each colour by taking a transparent sheet and taping over metallic cardstock in a coordinating colour. That gives a sort of frosty look with a sheen underneath. I'm very happy with the colours themselves, but I don't think I'm using the right colour in every picture, necessarily. Looking at the pictures I've taken, I see I should use less purple and more aqua :) What do you think of the non-white backgrounds? Honest opinions only, please, and if you don't want to be honest publicly, please email me :)

We watched Tideland today. It's a movie directed by Terry Gilliam and of course it's freaky in a Terry Gilliam kind of way. It's good but weird, unspeakably sad, disturbing, and grotesque all at the same time. The movie is about a young girl who's maybe 6 or 8; the things that happen to her are pretty bad, but the movie spends quite a lot of time in her head. The fantasies of a 6 or 8-year-old girl can be weird.... and hers certainly are. In many ways hers are much older than she is, making the film even more disturbing. This movie is apparently based on a book by Mitch Cullin, and I'd definitely like to read that along with the other books in the "Texas trilogy". We'd recommend this movie for adults only and only if you appreciate weird in all of its glory. Children should definitely NOT see this movie.

My pain has not yet completely subsided which is driving me crazy. My sternum is starting to hurt less, but it's still hurting. Sigh. My apologies for whining about it, but it's not usually this noticeable for this long.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Your colours look quite attractive on one of my monitors, but quite overbearing on the other machine. This is obviously a problem with the set up of my monitors, but it is a factor beyond your control. Your customers are looking at your creations on various monitors and this might be a problem.
I found the green to be very distracting and detracting on one monitor. It may be due to the fact that it is a more saturated colour than the others. More subtle or more neutral colours may solve the problem, but that may not add the add the splash of colour that you want for your site.
Your beautiful creations still have to be the stars of the site.
Although the peach is attractive with the aqua stones, I think your "Waves of the Ocean" still have more of a water feel against the white. Your aqua background is good with Aqua chain dangles . I quite like the purple stones on the lavender background as well. I guess that means I am more of a fan of the monochromatic layouts.

Anonymous said...

I like the photos best of all when you have a slightly complementary or off-complementary scheme going on (peach & aqua, purple & green).

I like the photos least of all when the background matches the item (i.e. aqua & blue).

Interestingly, this seems to be the opposite opinion of the person above... It is true that I have highly unusual tastes, but I also do buy tons and tons of stuff on etsy. So there.

I like to think of it in terms of what will make me click on it when it is a teeny-tiny thumbnail scrolling up the front page, or what will stand out in a search - in my opinion.

Love,
Vicki

p.s. please keep telling us when you are in discomfort (pain), anxiety, depression, whatever. It is actually important for us to know these things, because we can't get into your head, or truly undertand what you're feeling at any time. So when you communicate this stuff, we can try our best to support you.

Anonymous said...

I love the colors! I especially like the ones where the dark items are on a light background and the light items are on a darker background. The monochrome arrangements are nice....but not as interesting as contrasting colors :)

There is no need to apologize for 'whining' about your pain. You have some of the worst pain to live with so you have every right to be a bit vocal about it if you need to. We love you, and you know we do because we will not fault you for complaining about the pain. In my own mind, it doesn't make you a better person to bear it silently, just a different person. Be true to you :)

Love you forever
Robin