Learning art gets complicated when color is added
A little back story. I graduated from High School at the end
to May 1964. I immediately entered Auburn, in June, as a Commercial Art major. In
my first year I excelled at drawing. Basic drawing, figure drawing,
perspective, etc. It was when I started a design class that I ran into trouble.
Color. I think I see colors reasonably well in the mid-tones. But as colors go
lighter and darker in value I get lost. This became very apparent in the color
chart assignment. My instructor was dismayed at the chart I turned in. : )
The next Quarter I was a Business major. One and half years of art
school derailed.
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Pencil drawing - 1964 |
I always wanted to get back to art. After I retired I eased
back into it. It wasn’t long before color became an issue again. When I tell
people I’m colorblind I often get responses about how interesting my work can
be. That I should go for it and exaggerate it. That I see a different world, an
exotic world. However, when they see my work they are reaching for the barf
bag.
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Recent watercolor with "unconventional" colors |
So far, my main problem has been the greens. I have
evidently used some very inappropriate “greens” in some pieces. I tried to mix
green. I tried straight from the tube. It does not go well. In particular I am having
problems with the color of water (in lakes and streams). Occasionally water
will be reflecting a clear blue sky, but most of the time it appears green
tinted to me.
People say the greens I use are too bright (as well as the
wrong green for the subject). That makes sense. My vision is not as sensitive
to green and red as “normal” vision. What doesn’t make sense is that they think
what they see in my art is how I see. Well, maybe, but I don’t think so. What
shows up in my art is the result of my inability to make accurate color
selections. For instance the color Viridian. That color is in my new pocket
watercolor palette. I wasn’t at all sure about that color. I Googled it. I
found out it was green. A cool green. A blueish green. Sounded like a color for
water. I used it.
I often make inaccurate assumptions about the color of
things. When confronted with a gray wall paint I may guess it to be green or
blue. Another complicating factor is the different color vision in my eyes. I
had cataract surgery in my right eye a year ago. With that amber colored
cataract gone, now my right eye is much more sensitive to colors than my left
eye. Color is much more vivid in my right eye, especially blues.
Another thing I have become aware of is that I simply tend
to ignore color. Although I see plenty of color, I just don’t “SEE” color. I am
more sensitive to texture and value. For instance, if I am looking at a sunset
with someone they may comment of the pinks and lavenders they see. I will not
be aware of those colors until they say something. Once it is brought to my
attention I will begin to see them, too. Another example is a rose bush. I will
see a bush. I may pick out a rose bloom based on its different texture from the
leaves, but I won’t think of the leaves as green or the bloom as red. If
someone tells me the rose is reddish pink, I will then start to see in color.
There are times, though, when the green hue of the foliage and the red of the
bloom will be in my dead zone. I will not distinguish one from the other.
I am developing strategies. Studying color theory. Developing resources.
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Otherwise, I think I must rely on some “happy accidents”.
"Colour is my day-long obsession, joy, and torment" Claude Monet
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