Winter Garden
Tablescape
©2014 Lucinda Howe

This weekend I was decluttering my seldom-used serving pieces and preparing for guests for dinner.  I discovered some forgotten pieces and started to put together a table setting.   I seldom use a matched set of china, preferring to mix odd pieces in a different way each time.   In this case, place mats in a natural green formed the base and mixed well with green palm plates and flatware with red-orange handles.

I also looked around my garden for anything that might work as a “floral” arrangement.  In South Carolina, there is always something green even in the winter…palms, holly, juniper, ivy.  I selected broad magnolia leaves for a solid green base of my arrangement and some variegated elaeagnus to add a punch of brighter yellow green along with nandina berries for a pop of red.  I put the greenery together in a glass bowl on an orange glass plate.

This morning I was complaining to my walking buddy, Cousin Pat, that I had not done any painting over the weekend and didn’t have anything new to post in my blog this week.   She reminded me that I was just making art in a different medium and should post a photo of my table setting.  As I made the photo and thought about my process, I realized I’m using a favorite color combination that often appears in my landscape paintings… blue and green with bits of red-orange.  If you look back through some of my previous blog posts you will see this combination appear often.

Have you had this experience?  Do you have favorite color combinations that appear repeatedly in your home, wardrobe, and artwork?