When Jimmy Buffett goes into the recording studio, everything is down in less than 3 takes. He doesn’t spend hours mixing & re-mixing, a la Steely Dan. Or going from studio to studio to access equipment that may only be in one of them. The result is laying down an honest, raw creation, that in spite of its hiccups still gets the point across. The bumps are a large part of the appeal, actually. That is Wabi-sabi in auditory form.

So I just connected wabi sabi to Jimmy Buffett. That’s how new stuff is made, new places we can go, and new concepts are born. I’ve been doing it for years, so it’s automatic to me. If it’s not yet automatic for you,  the idea generator wheel is a booster to making connections that get you going again. Give it a spin. You might come up with the next Trans Siberian Orchestra.

Color has always been a paralytic challenge for me: So. Many. Choices. A good way to get beyond the mind boggling number of possibilities is to take inspiration from local nature. It provides continuity from inside to outside, and can bring memory of different seasons to life at a different time of year.

As an example, I generated a palette from a photo I took of a trumpet vine bloom visible from our living space (click the image to get to the online color generator site):

I can choose from a 3×3, 5×5 or 7×7 grid, depending on how many options I want to cull from the image. Voila - a narrowed field of 25 as opposed to 16 million. Simpler is always better. In this case, there are several colors with very subtle differences, and some with a tad more punch. A good sampling to choose from, whether the end application is fabric, paint, or lighting.