Hue Are You? with Jaime Derringer
Hue Are You?
Artist Spotlight: Jaime Derringer
Jaime is the brain child behind three successful blogs, Design Milk, exploring the work of design and art, Dog Milk - a blog for dog lovers and Adorn Milk - an online jewelry store. She also creates the most amazing pieces of art. The art is an exploration of shape and color, using layering as a guide. Everything is unplanned and completely intuitive—each mark is a response to its predecessor. The repetition of shapes and lines is an exercise used to escape from everything else around me. She approaches each piece as an experiment. Her work is inspired by Japanese calligraphy (Shodo), graphics and style from the 80s and 90s, electronic music, celebrations/parties, fireworks, space exploration and sci-fi, undersea creatures, topography, cartography, plated food, and architecture. Let's learn more about Jamie and her thoughts on color.
photo by Noa Azoulay / featherlove.com
Susan Jamieson: Can You Tell Me More About Design Milk and Dog Milk?
Jaime Derringer: I started Design Milk because I was at a job that I liked , but I felt a need for a creative outlet. I also started drawing that year- it was 2006. I was looking for sofas for my house when I started to see lots of cool, modern products for sale online and simultaneously I discovered blogs. I had previously had an online an online journal and another failed online magazine, so I took of the things I loved- furniture, art, design , writing and publishing - and brought them together . I started it solely for myself, and for fun, but it started to grow organically within the first year. That's when I started considering the idea that this thing could have legs - the rest is history!
In 2011 I started Design Milk because I was getting a lot of modern dog product submissions over at Design Milk, and also I have two dogs, so I relate to dog owners who were looking for modern dog products. I looked around and nobody was writing about modern dog products so I decided to do it myself.
SJ: Why Call It "Milk"?
JD: Milk has Vitamin D .... D for Design!
SJ: What One Color Represents Your Artistic Style?
JD: Black
SJ: Do You Use Color as a Dominant Role In Your Art or as an Accent?
JD: Accent
SJ: How Do You Feel About Matching Colors?
JD: Matching feels like an outdated term for color. I always try and create a space or painting that feels good in my eyeballs... however there are times when I use color in paintings to create drama, dialoque or discomfort.
SJ: What Color Represents Your Personality?
JD: Black
“IT’S BEEN A LONG ROAD OF LEARNING ABOUT CANVASES, DIFFERENT KINDS OF PAINTS, BRUSHES,TECHNIQUES AND I’M STILL LEARNING EVERYDAY AS I GO.”
SJ: What Color Comes to Mind When You Talk About:
Your Favorite City .........
JD: Los Angeles - Milennial Pink
The House You Grew Up In .....
JD: Gray - lots of Gray
Last fabulous Dinner You Had .....
JD: 4 Saints in Palm Springs - brown and green - leafy, earthy, and musky
Your Favorite Flower .....
JD: Orchid - Purple
Your Favorite Season ....
JD: Spring - blue and green
Your favorite piece of art ..........
JD: A rainbow – everything by Frank Stella! King of color.
Your favorite room in a home ...........
JD: The bedroom is my favorite room because I love to sleep. I always think of bedrooms as calming, but they don’t have to be beige. I think of white when I think of bedrooms beause I love crisp, white bed linens. I believe they are the perfect blank canvas for vibrant dreams.
Your favorite beauty product ......
JD: Beige – ha. BB cream sheer coverage with SPF that is literally the color beige.
Your favorite article of clothing .......
JD: I love a good sweatshirt hoodie – cosy, warm, soft, loose. I have one that’s a light teal color that I practically live in.
SJ: Name a color you never use?
JD: Red – I have a hard time with red. It’s very demanding.
SJ: Name a color you use frequently?
JD: Black, also pink.
SJ: If you could pick a name for a color what would it be?
JD: Oh gosh that’s an impossible question! I am no good at naming things. I’d probably just call it something silly like Black Velvet and then chuckle to myself when people get that song stuck in their head.
SJ: Do you have a pet? What color reminds you of him/her? Do you have a nickname for this pet?
JD: Yes – I have a Boston Terrier named Chicken and she is black and white. It’s funny because she coordinates with our décor!
SJ: What is the now Neutral?
JD: Greige
“I LOVE DISCOVERING COLOR PALETTES ONLINE AND COMPOSITIONS ON INSTAGRAM.”
SJ: What is your prediction for the next big color trend?
JD: I’m not quite sure yet – could be soft sage, peach, maybe brown even. Something that was popular in the 90s but a bit more updated.
Jaime’s Handles:
Design-milk.com
@designmilk
facebook.com/designmilk
Instagram.com/designmilk
Pinterest.com/designmilk
@jaimederringer
Instagram.com/jaimederringer
