Distinctly Montana Magazine

W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA NA . C O M 41 all of the graphic design for e Paint Factory since we opened. Initially he created a spreadsheet that he, Jim Foster, and I worked together to populate with data collected from the field. Roper also suggested that we should photograph the collection, which resulted in our collection of Giclee fine art prints. Friends began to say "at thing needs a name!" We kicked around Rocky Mountain this, Rocky Mountain that, but nothing stuck. Roper's wife, Kata- lin, suggested we call it the "Keller Collection," which ended up sticking. I began to think about which items/colors would be most appropriate for paint colors. Benjamin Moore, with its massive 3,700+ color database, and one of the companies e Paint Factory represents, seemed like the natural choice. For clarification, the Keller Collection does not reinvent color, it merely defines Rocky Mountain color, so I knew accurate color representations existed in their industry-leading data base. I identified 200 of our specimens from the five categories, then along with Benjamin Moore, Jim Schumacher, and our color-savvy staff at e Paint Factory, we began meticulously crossing over the items to the Benjamin Moore color palette. Two hundred items initially grew to almost 600 colors once we added a saturated (wet) option of each, resulting in a complementary color. In addition, I knew some people would look at a given color and say I love it but it's too dark, so we took a calculated percentage of the original item and offered a "Light" version as well. By the time e Paint Factory staff completed this endeavor, they had made about 9,000 draw- downs out of actual paint, allowing us to create our custom Color Libraries with what ended up being 460 colors once redundancy was removed. I then organized the library into eight groupings: Off Whites, Neutrals, Muted Tones, Greens, Reds/Oranges/Pinks, Browns, Purples/Blues, and Yellows/Golds. Because this is a new and pretty unique body of work, a boutique collection as Roper calls it, it's currently available exclusively through e Paint Factory in virtually any Benjamin Moore product. We are anxious to share it as an in-store, interactive and inspirational way to choose color relevant to the mountain landscape. e colors are all directly tied to a multitude of tangible items found in nature. On a final note regarding the palette coming to fruition, every- one I enlisted played a key role, and possibly none greater than my longtime friend Jim Schumacher. It's safe to say no one really has the time to undertake this kind of endeavor, I sure as hell didn't! But with a rock star like Jim Schumacher managing my paint store, it afforded me the luxury of time and presence of mind to indulge myself in something that I really felt compelled to see through. Jim also built our custom reclaimed lumber picture frames for some of my favorite pieces, leading to our gallery collection. Additionally, he built our KC Display unit and matching conference table where our customers can work with the collection. It's clear to me that the Keller Collection couldn't have happened without him. Domestic Orange Zinnia - Bozeman Bear Grass wildflower from the Flathead CONTINUED

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