2020 Topic 2: A Hint of Spring Hi everyone, Keren here. This topic is a chance to explore some of the new PaperArtsy Paint colours recently added to the Fresco Paint collection. Think soft greens, mauves and pinks, or maybe Seth's colours of subtle blue, cream and green which are also reminiscent of Spring, yet still offer that cosy, relaxing vibe of calm. Jo Firth-Young does pastels so well, and this is a perfect example. Jo Firth Young Leandra's tutorial on brayered backgrounds (this is part 2) utilises lots of delicious pastels. Pastels don't have to mean boring nor lack of depth. PaperArtsy Lets take a look at some palette options that might steer you in the direction we are heading. First up, some greens with neutrals. It's tempting to add a pop of colour to bring dynamism into your artistic endeavours, but these next two images show just how restful and beautiful pastels with a good neutral added in, can be. Ballard Designs TrendLand Starting to add in more greys and blue undertones takes the palette in a different direction. If you add in a warm tone of yellow, look where you end up..it brings a vivacity but still rocks the pastel palette. Dots To Lines How about greens and pinks? The peachy tones help the pinks from being too sickly sweet and the almost mossy green helps balance the combination and provide an almost neutral colour. Sarah K Wisombe Who doesn't love a mason jar? These beauties are a wonderful receptacle for the very best that springtime affords us! Home Made Lovely How about green and mauve? This stunner of a card shows the value of adding in metallics to pastel schemes. It can be pared back and sparingly used to bring warmth and bounce a little light off your art. Anna Griffin We all use paper on a regular basis, but this example is a wonderful updated version of quilling and plays around with colour in a clever way. Yulia Brodskaya Here's another image with a similar scheme. The shine from the glazed ceramic hearts combined with the raised texture is sublime. Dottery Pottery If we add blues into the purple-y combo, we have a gentle, relaxed scheme. You can almost smell the lavender! Phoebe Dreams Continuing with the cooler lavenders, we transition into the greyer blue purple tones. Source Toleshack If we really dial up the greys, the colour scheme becomes very subdued, elegant and gentle. Shari Carroll You can see all these options so far plus more on Leandra's pinterest page here to get you started in this pastel zone. You may not be ready, but pastel shade are going to be quite big in 2020. Not so wishy washy, but cleaner, greener, crisp shades of pastel. Before we head into these more summery tones, let's softly warm into it with a softer version of the palette. Scrap Art By Lady E Let's look at some images of brighter, slightly bolder pastels. Source This lively water-coloured panel uses colour blending to great effect. Pastel perfection! Source Hopefully there's one set of pastel colours that has piqued your interest. From the cool and subtle to the brighter summery ones, there's so much to choose from. Do explore the new colours of Fresco Acrylic paints to see the plethora of pastel possibilities. If you want to create along with us, please share on our social feeds so we can see what you get up to. The best places are Instagram @paperartsy or post in PaperArtsy People Group on Facebook. Make sure you tag us in your contributions, we love to see what you get up to in your creative world!