Chameleoon

Colors, Change & Creative Experiments

A small personal project exploring how color, mood, and light transform perception.

Browse color studies 30 studies archived since 2012.

A practice in observation

Chameleoon is a quiet corner of the web - a place to collect color shifts, gentle gradients, and the way ordinary materials change under new light.

Every experiment is deliberately small. I keep the tools simple so the attention can stay on the colors themselves and the way they move.

Across these pages are notes from windows, sidewalks, travel, and home. The archive grows in slow layers, but it keeps me awake to the way the world changes tone.

I rebuild this page now and then; it never quite settles, and that feels right.

See latest studies

Color Studies

Handmade gradients and palette notes gathered from windowsills, street corners, and sketchbooks. Each card keeps a memory of how the light felt.

30 studies archived Latest addition: Study 030 - Morning gradients

Study 030 - Morning gradients

Soft light from the east window blends three blues into peach before breakfast.

  • Sky Milk#77c1d7
  • Fog Ribbon#92b6d9
  • Tea Steam#f5ccb9

Study 029 - Layered paint wall

Peeling paint in the stairwell reveals cool ocean teal under warm plaster.

  • Dusty Teal#0f8a9d
  • Pool Echo#2aa2b4
  • Sun-Exposed Plaster#f1d6c1

Study 028 - Paper cylinder pattern

Paper scraps curled into tubes scatter candy colors across the desk.

  • Berry Loop#f25287
  • Ticket Yellow#ffd369
  • Mint Spine#6ecb63

Study 027 - Window reflections

Evening reflections blur through glass jars, cooling the orange room.

  • Jar Shadow#27496d
  • Cool Reflection#1f6f8b
  • Late Sun#ed6a5a

Study 026 - Painted wall notes

An alley mural faded by weather leaves gentle stripes of coral and violet.

  • Weathered Coral#f08375
  • Poster Magenta#d66ba0
  • Ink Shadow#77628c

Study 025 - Fabric palette

Stacked textiles in the studio cabinet make their own quiet spectrum.

  • Denim Fold#34536a
  • Fern Edge#4e8d7c
  • Canvas Whisper#c6c8a9

Study 024 - Glass morning wash

Sun filtered through colored glass bottles washes the note cards in soft gradients.

  • Bottle Blue#6a7ba2
  • Seafoam Trace#8bc6c1
  • Paper Glow#feecc8

Study 023 - Chameleoon profile

Inspired by the namesake creature; greens lean toward copper where light hits scales.

  • Branch Shadow#0f5c4c
  • Adapt Green#3ca370
  • Copper Hint#d98b3a

Study 022 - Night market glaze

Watercolor wash recorded after midnight walks through the market, mixing navy with neon heat.

  • Stall Shadow#1a1c2c
  • Sign Glow#3f4c6b
  • Lantern Amber#fdae61

Study 021 - Metro ticket memory

Pressed old metro tickets into wet paper to lift their faded inks into a new trio.

  • Punch Card#f4c95d
  • Platform Rust#ee964b
  • Validator Red#d1495b

Study 020 - Rain jacket reflections

Collected from puddles clinging to a bright rain shell; greens slip into gold.

  • Storm Tint#0a9396
  • Pavement Reflection#94d2bd
  • Hood Highlight#ee9b00

Study 019 - Poster archive fade

Layered rubbings of torn street posters softened under tracing paper.

  • Ink Violet#6d597a
  • Paper Rose#b56576
  • Corner Fade#e56b6f

Study 018 - Cafe tile morning

Sketched color blocks from a corner cafe floor before the first orders arrived.

  • Tile Shadow#264653
  • Mint Brew#2a9d8f
  • Pastry Crumb#e9c46a

Study 017 - Fruit stand midday

Used afternoon sun to trace the bright oranges and yellows stacked under a canvas awning.

  • Citrus Peel#f07167
  • Vendor Chalk#fcbf49
  • Canvas Light#fed9b7

Study 016 - Studio lamp nights

Adjusted the studio lamp gels and captured the resulting gradient on handmade paper.

  • Late Task#1f2933
  • Blueprint Edge#334e68
  • Filament Spark#ffba08
Color overlays drifting across notebook pages.

About the Project

I started Chameleoon in 2012 as a way to pay attention to color in everyday life. The project has lived on sketchbooks, in cameras, on scraps of paper, and now here.

Like a chameleon, each study adapts to its surroundings - shifting with light, seasons, and the materials I have nearby. Sometimes they are photos, sometimes textures, sometimes quick palette notes.

The aim is to stay awake to quiet shifts - the ones most people walk past.

The pace is calm on purpose. Chameleoon is a practice in observation rather than production, a reminder that looking closely is enough.

Founded as a personal project in 2012. Updated occasionally.

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Notes

Short entries from the color notebook.

  • October 2025

    Morning gradients

    Study 030 caught the breakfast window gradient—three blues easing into peach before the kettle whistled.

  • July 2024

    Window reflections

    Study 027 still hums in the notebook: evening glass jars cooling the orange room into layered reflections.

  • December 2023

    Glass morning wash

    Study 024 bottled the winter wash, colored glass turning note cards into patient gradients.

  • August 2022

    Metro ticket memory

    Study 021 lifted metro-ticket inks before they flaked away—validator reds and platform rust archived together.

  • March 2021

    Cafe tile morning

    Study 018 mapped the cafe floor at opening time—mint grout, pastry crumbs, and first light on ceramic.

  • October 2019

    Field kit miniature

    Study 015 proved the pocket kit still works; river moss swatches dried true beside the log entry.

Contact

This is a personal, non-commercial project. If you'd like to share your own color discovery or just say hello, write to:

palettekeeper at chameleoon dot com

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