ralph waldo emerson and color theory

In my travels yesterday to secure some windows I'd discovered a few weeks ago, I found myself coveting this leather-bound collection of Ralph Waldo Emerson.  This rare 1897 set printed by Riverside Press Cambridge-Boston is a far cry from the dog-eared, paperback book of Emerson's writings I purchased from at street vendor in New York City back in the late 1980's.  Ever since, Emerson's writings have served to ground me throughout my life, informing my sense of self.

"Trust thyself, every heart vibrates to that iron string," I quote.  Oh, how often have I had to step out in faith, believing in where I felt my heart was compelled to go!  The answers, and the path aren't always clear. Often we must make the choice of a next step without a clear notion of where it's leading, trusting the path will become clear as we move along it. 

These windows, for example, the door I found in the basement, or the still empty spot waiting for a conference table... the best design has room for missing pieces to be filled in, and a quality of coming together that can't be determined ahead of time.

Enough windows, 58" high by 17" wide, 2 pairs and 6 singles, look like they came from the same genre as our middle-aged fire hall.  They could become cabinet doors on that eighteen-foot spread of wall in the studio waiting for shelving.  Thought it would just be simple, floor to ceiling, 3-foot spreads like upstairs in the loft.  And then I found these....

Meanwhile, color studies on various walls, are defining what to use where.  This process of purchasing a few pints of colors to try is worth every penny.  The light in every room is different and it changes with the time of day or the weather.  Swatches on opposite walls and a few days walking past them, inform my decision.  I rarely end up painting the walls the way I went into a project thinking I would.

Painting swatches near the adjoing room are helpful in picturing spaces as you move through them.  With several gallons of trim paint, just slightly brighter than the old trim, we've been painting all weekend.  My father, always my faithful painting companion when a project gets to this point, has been detailing the windows and doors, while I make my way around the crown molding and baseboard trim.

If you look closely at the photo below, you'll see the door trim and mouldings are in process, brightening the countenance of the gallery space - whose walls are staying our characteristic mottled and ragged off-white.

The studio and adjacent areas, however, may surprise you in the end.  Will have to trust that iron string...