The first day of Spring is March 20th! How will it affect your creativity? Will it bring you hope and inspire you with a Spring color palette? Believe it or not, in our minds the hope and colors of Spring are often intertwined in our minds.
Spring is oftentimes considered a time of new beginnings and hope. When you look over a landscape in the springtime, you see vivid colors and textures. You can feel the days getting longer and warmer. Whether you know it or not, all of this marvelous sensory input has an effect on you!
The next time you are outside during the Spring, try to really see the world of Spring. Feel the warmth of sun on your face. Enjoy the scent of fresh grass. All this sense of new beginning can feel peaceful, hopeful, or even scary!
Keep Reading To See: How Cultures Celebrate Spring, Why Spring Inspires Hope, Art Inspired By Spring and a Classical Spring Color Palette! That’s right people, this blog post if jammed full of Spring info!
Many cultures celebrate the return of spring, the blossoming of nature.
Did you know, in Japan, the annual blossoming of cherry trees has become a significant national event? This cherry blossom viewing is called Hanami. It is a time to gather at parks and shrines, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Cherry blossoms, or sakura, symbolize the transience of life, which is a major theme in Buddhism.
In lots of countries with strong Christian traditions, Spring is marked by Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his triumph over physical death. But, “Easter is derived from a much older celebration of fertility and rebirth, the Celtic festival of Ostara,” Cristina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate College in London, told Live Science. “The bunnies and the eggs are symbolic of fertility and reproduction.”
Going back to older, pagan roots, Mayday celebrations are common around Europe. The Maypole dance is a popular folk festival, especially in certain areas of Germany and the United Kingdom. “The pole symbolizes sacred trees, the world axis, the phallus, growth and regeneration,” said De Rossi.
OK – so we have cherry blossoms, Easter eggs and a Maypole. Interesting. But let’s take this a step further. How does Spring effect our minds?
How Does Spring Bring Hope?
After Winter, Spring brings all that welcome light and heat to us. This burst of awesome warmth and brightness gives us the virtual spring fever. The first day of spring marks the vernal equinox, a balance of daylight and darkness. In the Northern Hemisphere, people receive an average increase of three hours of light since the winter solstice. That’s about a 20 percent increase! With all that extra light comes a host of direct and indirect effects that improve mood and create a sense of hope. The most immediate effect is the increased serotonin we get during the Spring. Serotonin is a well-known hormone released into the nervous system. Your system releases all that extra Serotonin during all those Spring activities we enjoy: walking, gardening, opening windows for fresh air, etc.
Hope is frequently compared to light and heat! Karl Menninger called hope the “indispensable flame” of mental health. English writer Martin F. Tupper wrote, “though the breath of disappointment should chill the sanguine heart, speedily it glows again, warmed by the live embers of hope”.
How Has Spring Inspired Artists In The Past?
OK, so all this marvelous Spring chit chat is educational. But how has Spring inspired art? What does all this Spring, hope and inspiration have to do with us creative types? Well a lot actually. Spring, and the hope it brings, has been inspiring artistic masterpieces for many years! We can look back on these creations to find color palettes, techniques, subjects and compositions that inspire our own Spring-like works of art.
Here are a few paintings inspired by Spring:
Feeling inspired yet? Just a reminder, go check your art supplies now! Make sure you have everything you need to create your next masterpiece. If you’re running low, swing over to my favorite art shop for all your art supplies: Blick Art Supplies!
A Classic Spring Color Palette:
A traditional, true Spring color palette makes you think of sunshine, tropical islands with turquoise water, yellow sand, rich green leaves and fresh fruit. The colors are warm and refreshing, taking in the light of the warm spring sun. The tones are warm with a clear yellow undertone. There is not much coolness in this palette. It contains warm greens, yellows, orangey reds, peachy pinks and every shade of light brown from beige to tan. They are all naturally yellow-based and warm.
For blues there are only a few warmer shades of blue – such as turquoise, mint, or pastel blue – that contain a tint of yellow.
In terms of value, the Spring color palette is quite broad, but it is lighter. There are no extremely dark colors here. But you may find some darker shades of blue or purple, which are supportive colors for the lighter tints.
Also the colors in a Spring palette are saturated and bright rather than faded.
To push your highlights and shadows, you have a few options. To replace black, there are warm chocolate browns and greenish greys, which you can use as dark neutrals. For your lighter colors, you have light yellows and greens instead of whites. These are warmer and gentler than pure white.
HOWEVER, now that I wrote all that – remember that Spring is all about hope and inspiration! Take all this imagery and these descriptions as a just a starting point! If you feel inspired to go dark and cool with your colors, then go for it!
And because you’ve made it this far in my ode to Spring and hope, here are some of my favorite Spring quotes:
- “Spring is the time of plans and projects.” — Leo Tolstoy
- “You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.” — Pablo Neruda
- “Oh, Spring! I want to go out and feel you and get inspiration. My old things seem dead. I want fresh contacts, more vital searching.” — Emily Carr
- “In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours.” — Mark Twain
- “I glanced out the window at the signs of spring. The sky was almost blue, the trees were almost budding, the sun was almost bright.” — Millard Kaufman
- “Spring and fall, those are very inspiring times of the year for me.” — Henry Rollins
- “The beautiful spring came, and when nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also.” — Harriet Ann Jacobs
- “Spring will come and so will happiness. Hold on. Life will get warmer.” — Anita Krizzan
- “Come with me into the woods. Where spring is advancing, as it does, no matter what, not being singular or particular, but one of the forever gifts, and certainly visible.” — Mary Oliver
- “Where flowers bloom so does hope.” — Lady Bird Johnson
Spring’s effect on your physical and mental state have been proven many times over. It is a season that brings us hope and inspiration. It has moved many artists to create stunning masterpieces. It’s very palette is rich and promising. And I truly hope that this Spring motivates a new creative project for you!
Don’t think you can create a masterpiece from scratch? No problem! Swing by my Coloring Shop for some lovely hand-drawn coloring pages you can print and color today. Quick and easy creativity – just add your Spring color palette and enjoy!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links and I may earn a commission if you click them and make a purchase (at no cost to you). This post is otherwise NOT sponsored or endorsed by any of the brands mentioned or reviewed.
About Artistry By Lisa Marie:
Artistry By Lisa Marie is a small art studio located in Rochester, NY. It currently consists of Lisa Marie, a hoard of colored pencils and her two small boys (her husband John is a computer geek with no artistic skill and has bowed out of the art business). Lisa Marie has been professionally creating art for over a decade and has created an extensive library of stunning hand-drawn coloring pages, all available for digital download. While she has a Master’s in Art History and can talk your ear off about the Old Masters, her background is custom pet portraits and beautiful coloring pages. Her main interests are encouraging creativity and helping colorists release their inner artist and relax.
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