color theory and practice

I am full of color. I am bleeding fuschia and lavendar and orange!


recognize © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved.


Word has just come in that PANTONE, as in the very face of color, has purchased one of my walls for usage in their advertising, direct mail and on the web. I don't know how long they want it for just yet. But THEY SAID YES. My mind is just blown. This weird little idea that crept in a back door as purely a labor of love, something I really wanted to make, is now making me money. This is so huge, its boggling. The exposure alone will be phenomenal. All those designers' and advertisting people's eyes. Whew.

Did I mention that I am friggin ecstatic?

Yes.


pimento © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved.

Also available for sneak peaks, the work I did for Lifestyle Magazine in November and December, which appeared in two of the January issues. I created a wall for a feature on corporate coffee in Philly. It features the façades of seven coffeeshops. And mini-me in a wig.


half and half © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved.

...and the results of the shoot with the artist Dane Tilghman with his artwork at Taylor's of Norristown.


strum © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved.



sax © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved.


virgin © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved.

Plus I just-just heard that the photos I took of Ms. Sarah Beaver are going to be featured on a fashion-y blog somewhere... when I get a link I will patch that in.

This last weekend was full of firsts. First and foremost, a visit to The First State. Shanners and I rose early on Saturday to meet a fellow Flickrer, Nancy, aka Apricot X, at the Ches-Del Diner for breakfast. I have never really spent any time in Delaware and aside from tax-freeness, I don't know much about the state at all.


apricot nancy © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved.

We started with a flea market in New Castle. The outdoor portion had a few temptations, and Nancy caved in and bought a peculiar box filled with phrases on colored cards that seemed like they might be part of a game, without directions. A sentimental bullfrog. A string of sausage. A piece of frozen mud. A snapshot. A red-headed woman. A block of cheese.


natural © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved.

We wandered about inside without realizing that this would be the greatest concentration of people we would encounter anywhere in the state that day. While rich in curiosities, Delaware is bereft of actual warm bodies. Of the people we did manage to meet that day, the most magnificent had to be the flamboyant Chinese wig dresser who allowed us full access to his shop with ample photographic opportunities and coaching on what makes a good wig. Not natural hair, by the by. Too heavy.


blades © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved.

The rest of the day was spent doing loop-backs along the length of Route 13, admiring the oddities we encountered at close range for the most part. A man jogging with an orange unicycle. A soggy, abandoned front yard flea market filled with amazing things. A Victrola museum.


entertainment center © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved.

All assortment of left-to-decay structures that no one gave a second thought to me entering and wandering around in, even right on the main road. I spent a goodly portion of the road trip in the berm, pulling over every 5 minutes to clamber out, leap over puddles and make my way to the best vantage point. And no one harassed me. Not one honk, cat call, or 'what do you think yer doin?'.


veer © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved.

And oh the birds. Like last year's New Year's trip down south, the birds amass here like no where else I have ever been. Though you can scarcely see it in the above image, this was moments before we realized we were witnessing a sun dog or parhelion. Which is rather like a rainbow that forms due to ice crystals, rather than moisture and gives an entirely otherworldly effect.


gram © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved.

Delaware is a place of strange quiet out on the periphery of everything, a good place to clear the head.


pinafore © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved.

Sunday I was invited by my next portrait subjects to be a part of a tour to view their sustainable architectural work in Philadelphia. I will elaborate on the who's and where's once it is released, but it was incredibly invigorating to see not only such phenomenal talent in terms of just beautiful design, but such a commitment to finding a way to make real sustainability not just livable and possible, but realistically cost only as much as non-sustainable structures. I've thought of a way to honor their bond and aesthetic in the portraits I am doing of the group next week and I am really excited about the shoot.


negative space © Laura Kicey. All Rights Reserved.

The morning is wearing on and I have been sitting here writing, inventorying and making mostly effortless sales in my pajamas. I think it might just be a good day.