Tomorrow is the end of the year, a time when I'm usually running around trying to tie up loose ends and get my ducks in a row before January first. But today I'm just taking a few minutes to reflect on the possibilities that a new year brings.
This is the year that my baby will graduate and go off to college, which means this is the year that I get to reinvent myself. That's a scary proposition! I'm trying not to think of how much I'll miss both my kiddos, but concentrate on the fun things that come along with being an empty nester.
The possibilities are endless.
Maybe I'll take up horseback riding again. Or start painting more. Or start a new business. (I can almost hear my husband rolling his eyes.) On the other hand, maybe I'll get "a real job" and go back to work in real people clothes, for the first time in a dozen years. That could be fun.
I'm not sure yet what the details will be, but I know this year will bring lots of changes for our whole family. Some are scary, but most are exciting. So I thought it would be a good day for a new color palette to capture the mood.
Since I'm working my way through a collection of semi-precious stone color palettes, I thought opals would best represent the many changing possibilities that are swirling around my head. Plus, they're my birth stone, so I might be a little biased when I admit they're my favorite.
There's just something about the way the light turns into color when you move the stone around and look at them from different angles. The kaleidoscope of possibilities is all inside, trying to get out.
Opal Color Palette
Opals contain all the colors of the rainbow, so it's a little difficult to narrow down a four-color palette, but I thought I'd give it a try.
This time I had to do something a little different with the color palette, to try to capture all the different shades. I used gradient colors so that each one floats upward to white, to represent the range of shades of each color contained in the opals. I hope it translates, because this was a tough one to get right!
In the end, you can't really capture all the colors, just like you can't capture the light bouncing around, in and through the gems. That's part of the charm and allure of opals, and I think that's why I love them so much. Their colors are always just a bit beyond reach, like a hint or a whisper.
Opals speak of possibilities and potential, and I think that makes them a fitting stone to represent the beginning of something, like the new year.
I hope your year ahead is filled with possibilities, potential, and lots of color!
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