Hello creative friend!!

I’ve been pulling out past collections, looking through old swatches, and flipping through paint-making journals as I prepare for Thursday’s #tracibautistaCOLOR anniversary LIVE.

It has been so much fun seeing how the color stories, products, and studio experiments have evolved over the past nine years.

I’ll share more of those past collections in a moment, but first, I wanted to take you a little closer into some of the visual inspiration behind NINE: VINTAGE ALOHA.

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE COLOR STORY

I’ve collected vintage aloha wear and muʻumuʻus for more than thirty years, always drawn to the bold florals, barkcloth textures, unexpected color combinations, and beautifully imperfect patterns.

When you look closely, the textiles become little collections of color and shape. Saturated florals sit beside earthy grounds. Bright pinks, oranges, and greens overlap with faded purples, browns, and quiet neutrals.

These are the kinds of visual fragments I collect, photograph, save, and return to in my studio.

The quilt pieces I discovered at DESTASH in Honolulu added another layer to the collection.

A local quilter had taken vintage fabrics that had already lived one life and pieced them into something completely new. They felt almost like a library of fabric swatches and textiles collected over the years.

That idea stayed with me:

Something treasured in one life becoming the raw material for another.

NINE YEARS OF COLOR STORIES

As I’ve been looking back through previous anniversary collections, each one feels like a snapshot of what I was exploring in the studio at that moment.

Handcrafted inks. Watercolor. PIGMENT BARS. Wax paints. Texture. Layering. Mark making. Unexpected color combinations.

Each collection became another chapter in the evolution of #tracibautistaCOLOR.

And now, NINE brings so many of those creative threads together in one limited-edition studio collection.

The VINTAGE ALOHA Collector’s Box includes handcrafted watermedia, wax color, mixed-media surfaces, a Digital Collector’s Kit, a live creative workshop, and the debut of the brand-new WAX DRAWING STICK.

​EXPLORE NINE: VINTAGE ALOHA →​

I’ll be sharing past collections, paint-making journals, more of the VINTAGE ALOHA story, and a closer look inside the Collector’s Box during my YouTube LIVE:

#tracibautistaCOLOR LIVE

NINE anniversary celebration

Thursday, September 3 at 3pm PT

​Set a reminder and join me LIVE on Thursday →​

I can’t wait to pull everything out of the archives and celebrate nine colorful years with you!

Only 25 NINE: VINTAGE ALOHA Collector’s Boxes are being made. There are only 9 left!

SHOP VINTAGE ALOHA

P.S. Over the next few emails, I’ll continue sharing inspiration photos, individual colors, and more of the creative process behind VINTAGE ALOHA. 🌺 Join me LIVE on Thursday, 9/3!!

With creativity and color...

Artfully, xo Traci Bautista 💞 Founder, #tracibautistaCOLOR

If you have any questions reach out to customer care using the chat box at tracibautistacolor.com