Thank you for giving Painted Desert a try. It has been produced as a plug-in for the Kaleidoscope 1.5.1 control panel, created by Gregory D. Landweber (greg@math.harvard.edu) and Frederick J. Bass. If you don't have Kaleidoscope 1.5.1, it can be downloaded from any Info-Mac mirror site, or any of a number of sites dedicated to the creation of third-party Kaleidoscope Color Schemes, including: The Kaleidosope Way, maintained by Lloyd Wood, acknowledged Master Schemer and Moral Arbiter of All Things Kaleidoscopic (www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/ L.Wood/kaleidoscope/).You can find virtually every color scheme ever made, including all of mine, at The Kaleidoscope Schemes Archive (Eric Reid, Webmaster, www.k-files.net/ksa.
After installing Kaleidoscope in your Control Panel folder, simply drop Painted Desert in the Kaleidoscope Color Schemes folder and put that in your Extensions folder. Then open the Kaleidoscope control panel and select Painted Desert .
Please note that Painted Desert looks best on computers capable of 1000s of colors. I find that it is not possible to achieve the results I aim for in the more limited 256-color palette.
Painted Desert is opinionware; if you have strong feelings about it, send them along via E-mail. As a dedicated Mac-type, I am committed to the pursuit of quality in all things, so let me know what you think -- I can't improve if I don't know what I'm doing wrong!
Acknowledgements: Any first words of recognition must go to Greg Landweber, creator of Kaleidoscope. Without his good work, none of this wouldhave been necessary. The primary inspiration for my own color schemes, is Layne Karkruff (bluskyguy@earthlink.net). His work is innovative, sensuous, and displays great attention to all aspects of design, particularly the luminousness and reflectivity of his "glassies" and the unity and coherence of the overall conceptions. You will perhaps recognize Layne's glowing gemstones as the source of my own efforts in this area. Because the first of these schemes to spark my interest was Dragon , co-authored by Richard Bensam, the next acknowledgement goes to him. His work -- especially Ocean and Ozymandias (named, I assume, for my favorite poem of all time) are rich in color, a quality that especially appeals to me. Other designers whose work I admire include Scot Lewis (Ephemerol ) and Brian Hagler, aka Gandolf the Grey (Copperplate ), whose generous help and great talent have aided me tremendously in my efforts.
Too many words about aesthetics: Many of the color schemes you have probably seen provide a cool, understated, elegant visual environment, an environment which, if not altogether neutral, at least retires quietly to the background. It is easy to understand the appeal of this type of color scheme. Sometimes I pop Scot Lewis'Ephemerol on the turntable and float gently down the stream myself. But much of the time, as I perform the mundane tasks of everyday life at the computer, I enjoy a more robust give and take, a play of rich hues and color contrasts and an eye-pleasing detail or two.
All of my color schemes were conceived as evocations of emotional states, usually triggered by memories of places I have been, certain times of day, or climatic conditions. Painted Desert was inspired by memories of a month-long camping trip to the Southwestern U.S. with my sixth grade science teacher -- one of those seminal, formative experiences that has become more and more important to me as time goes on. Take a look at Painted Desert , if you like it use it, enjoy it. If not, as always, you know where the Trash Can is.
Statement of copyright: All artwork in this color scheme is copyrighted. Please do not use it for any purpose, without my prior approval. It may be freely distributed as long as it is not altered and this docu mentation accompanies it.
