Mission Mid-Summer,
oil on canvas. It’s a rendition of one of the historic buildings at the mission in San Juan Capistrano. All those reds are not there in nature. But why not? We can make up our own colors. (Click on the picture for details.)
A friend of mine, Jeff Girard, is heading for Germany to be part of a training seminar for artists. His main topic: Color. Though long an art director and no novice to this, he rounded out his presentation with brief videoed interviews of other artists.
Ha! I suppose it’s to add color.
He told me he loved what his friend (and my daughter) Allison said, that in painting she doesn’t think about it much; rather it just grows out of the need at the moment. She added that it’s color that’s the difference between a drawing and a painting.
Figuring he had enough of that kind of thing, I suggested other aspects of color, like in personality, or in speech.
The one not afraid to exhibit a bit of color in these ways brightens everything around. A book full of color in the writing is worth the reading just for that.
Colorless is not a description most of us would like to own. Fog has its own intrigue but we like it better when it clears.
My friend Francis Viscount just returned from an academic conference on world cultures. One presenter, he said, projected visuals of art and color and how it expresses the soul of a people. He old me the overall effect lifted the emotions all around . . . and it was the only thing that did in that room full of intellects. Who doesn’t have emotions?
It can be palpable. I remember the first time I encountered an assembly of fauve paintings. Those were the “wild beasts” who didn’t bother with nature’s actual colors but made up their own. My emotions shot up. It just made me happy.
And what about those lilies of the field? They could have been dull gray and still produced our needed oxygen, but how would that brighten our spirits?
So add some zest to the outline of your day. Splash in some color. Be a painting.
It’s for you. And for others to see.
Our Lives Together
Its About Life
11:29 am
I’m forwarding this to my music students, Hyatt, for it’s so like music! The modulations in tone play on the soul like color. It’s a song’s dynamics that cause the piece to connect with the person listening. My piano teacher used to say, “Playing a piece with excellence is far more than playing the right keys.” So true.
12:47 pm
Absolutely! Music is another art, when it’s done well. One trumpet student told me once how Miles wasn’t that great technically, but O what soul.
12:55 pm
And I would add: food! When everything is yellow, it’s not as appealing. But add a splash of arugula and fresh raspberries – now that’s worth chewing over. Love your barns for the color alone! But then I am your number one fan. And we will see those barn paintings in person in Iowa come August – where the color yellow will burst with flavor: nothing like Iowa sweet corn.
12:50 pm
Right on, Sue. How the plate appeals visually is a major part of the meal. It’s one of the ways I brag about Anne, how I could see she was an artist all those years before setting out on that course, just by the way she set the table, and what she put on the plate.
7:29 pm
Loved your thoughts, Hyatt, as usual!! Thank you for sharing them… Much love to you and Anne and the family! Xoxoxoxo Love love Lisa and Kevin
12:51 pm
Sweet, Lisa.
1:01 am
I’d like to spread your message to the children’s clothing industry, Hyatt.
My son Morgan is all about color and wants to dress like a rainbow every day. Throw in some glitter and sparkles, and all the better.
Walk through the children’s clothing sections at any random store, and you will see that girls’ clothes are very colorful, but boys’ clothes have very limited colors. It’s quite frustrating and makes me feels a sense of injustice for my son. We have been handed down some wonderful Hawaiian shirts that offer one solution.
Meanwhile, Morgan himself brings color into my life, and for that I am grateful.
Thanks for encouraging us to open our eyes and see more.
12:56 pm
Kristan, I never thought of that, being a bit of a bland shopper myself. You’d think there might be more choices there in China, but then, maybe less, after Mao. Seems Singapore offered much color when we were there, but, again, it might have been more for the girls. Hello, Kitty!
6:29 pm
Love the idea of adding color to my day. Thanks!
8:02 pm
Yes, I’m here.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and that from Allison. Annie Dillard remarks that God could have crafted the world with just black and white, in a single room, with a single line for a horizon… Something like that in Pilgrim, I think.
Thanking the Creator for these things :)
6:14 am
Right on. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, a good read of many years back . . . even wrote Annie Dillard to say so, and received a thanks back. So here’s my thanks to you.