Do You See What I See?
My color theory teacher and I were both looking out the window gazing at the tree limbs? It was the first time that I experienced the idea of Color Seeing, which was originally introduced by Hawthorne at the “Cape Cod School of Art”. Hawthorne was a contemporary of Monet and took his color seeing a step further. As my teacher and I were both looking at the same tree, he discovered a bluish note, but I thought it was more reddish. He said he noticed that I tended to see colors much warmer then him.
Does each person see color differently? Could this be a result of acuity, age or even drugs? I heard that Van Gogh had lead poisoning, which caused him to see halos around objects, as well as the digitalis that he took for Epilepsy caused a yellow aura and yellow spots in his vision. Could this be a result of his “Yellow Period”?
Did Renoir’s myopic vision in his later years cause him to produce brighter colors, primarily reds and oranges, with thicker and sketchier strokes?
Monet’s cataracts caused yellowing and darkening of the lense of his eye, thus influenced his painting to be muddied and blurred. There was an interesting paper written by Michael F. Marmor, MD, Stanford University Medical Center, Department of Ophthalmology, “Ophthalmology and Art: Simulation of Monet’s Cataracts and Degas’ Retinal Disease", that gives you the visuals of what he suspects were the recreated vision of both these artists.
Food for thought, that we as artists are not only affected by style preference, and eye hand coordination, but extremely affected by our vision and how we see the world.
*This is my twenty-fifth painting of my paint 52 challenge, measures 30" X 30" Atelier Acrylic and Oil on Museum wrapped canvas (no need for framing), price $2250 SOLD. Thank you so much for following my journey.
It's All In The Details
Have you ever noticed a painting within a painting in your creations, or other artist’s creations? They can be quite inspiring. In fact, my teacher has taken many of his paintings that don’t work, and chops them up to find little masterpieces.
Many times my Internet viewers have told me my art shows so much better in person. One reason for this observation is everyone’s computer will experience different color; some are warmer, cooler brighter or duller, but another reason it is you perceive the painting as a whole not as its parts. It is difficult to see the fine nuances of texture, elevation, stroke and layers of color on the Internet.
If you find me in a gallery, you will see my face very close to the art. I love to become the fly on the wall, discover all the secrets, the genius of other artists. This can only be found by being very close as well as the unity discovered when standing afar.
The images above are details of my painting “Day of the Eucalyptus”. “Day of the Eucalyptus” is my twenty-fourth painting of my #paint52 challenge, measures 15” X 15”, Atelier Interactive Acrylic and oil on vellum, price $525.
Thank you again for taking the time to visit my blog and leave your wonderful comments.
The Trees of Wisdom
The Tree’s Wisdom
Finding our power within
Learning from nature
A canopy of strength
Roots tamper the earths crust
Discovering the spirit of life
Calling our name
Calling our soul
Ending our strife
This is my 21st painting of my #paint52 challenge. The painting measures 24" X 36", medium Daniel Smith Oil and Atelier Interactive Acrylic on museum wrapped canvas. No need to frame. Price $2160 plus freight.
*My tree paintings are teaching me.
Third Eye Samurai
I have been going through much healing lately and one of the ways I have been doing this is to meditate on my chakras, by using the lovely chakra meditation “Running the Rainbow”, by Laura Alden Kamm. There are seven main centers of the body, each one a spiral of energy. Each chakra is represented by the colors of the spectrum. “Color therapy can be shown to help on a physical level; however there are deeper issues around the colors on the psychological and spiritual levels. Color has a profound effect on us on all levels, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. If our energy centers become blocked or depleted, then our body cannot function properly and this, in turn, can lead to a variety of problems on any level.”
What I have noticed lately is the colors are showing up in my paintings, either what I need or a reflection of my healing of the chakras. It became pretty evident in my last painting, showing red, yellow and purple. Remember the base of the spine is represented by red, an indicator for a need of stability and survival, yellow governing self-esteem and wisdom, and purple relating to our higher self and higher consciousness. They also represent different organs in the body.
I am currently taking The Blog Triage class by Alyson Stanfield and Cynthia Morris. She was asking me the other day about my tag line: “Art in life and spirit in art” – “What does it mean to you?” I realized that my spirit shows in all my work and it is a reflection of my life at that particular moment that I painted the painting. As I live my life, my spirit is reflected in my art. Also speaking of spirits, the title of this piece is “Third Eye Samurai”. Do you also see the spirits of the Samurai in this painting? I didn’t realize they were there until I took the photo, yet my husband noticed them right away. But, that may be a whole other blog.
My intention is for you to discover healing when seeing my paintings, that the colors can also have a positive psychological and spiritual affect for each observer that owns one of my paintings.
This is the twentieth painting of my #paint52 challenge, Atelier Interactive Acrylics on a museum wrapped canvas, measuring 24” X 36”, price $2160. SOLD
As always I cherish your comments. Thank you!
My Drug of Choice #paint52
I knew I love color, but I just realized I’m and addict. I'm a color junkie. Color is my drug of choice. Honestly, I have been expressing how much I love color and that is what my paintings are about, but didn’t realize how much or the depth of truth in which I said it. Especially, now that I have been painting consecutively, due to my paint52 challenge, it has become more apparent.
In my early years of painting, in my teacher George de Groat’s class, I noticed a woman painting across from me, using a bright pink, pinker than any pink that I have experienced. I had to ask her where she got it. She mentioned it was permanent rose, by Shiva Signature Oils. I ended up purchasing it and found it to be intense and highly saturated and of course wonderful. It was the beginning of my drug habit.
Wolf Kahn said he has a person make his pastels. He wanted a special blue and what he told her was “I want a blue, bluer than any blue you have seen before”. He did get his wish. That’s what I want. I want to use and have color combinations that most people have never seen before. I want the viewer to be taken on a color trip.
Wolf Kahn~Color and Consequence
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/25903931[/vimeo]
I have found in my search for colors that certain brands are better than others for certain colors. You can’t beat Daniel Smith for their Indian Yellow, Phthalo Turquoise and Quinacridone pigments. Do you have a favorite color? Does it have to be a particular brand?
You know it kind of reminds of that line from English Patient, when Almasy says “It is a very plum plum.” Color can take you to that place, that extra hyper sense of actually being able to taste, hear, smell, or feel its temperature. It can take you to another world, my hallucinatory world of Technicolor.