Sunday, January 31, 2010

ABCs of Art - C is for Colour

A B Cs of ART

This week I am continuing to look at the Cs of art and the focus is colour.

We take colour for granted, yet is one of the primary tools of an artist. I found numerous websites that looked at

-the theory of colour:
http://www.colormatters.com/colortheory.html

http://www.alifetimeofcolor.com/study/g_color.html

http://www.artsconnected.org/toolkit/encyc_colorwheel.html

-symbolism in colour

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/color2.htm

-lessons in colour

http://painting.about.com/od/colourtheory/ss/color_theory.htm

http://www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Color/ColorTheory/

The following site showed a number of masterpieces with the colours used by the artsists:
http://www.colourlovers.com/blog/2007/06/20/color-inspiration-from-the-masters-of-painting/

One of my favourite sites for many art ideas is Nita Leland. She has a good section on colour and has also written an excellent book on colour.
She provides an extensive listing of books on colour and colour theory.




I wanted to create a painting where the focus was mainly on colour - the abstract expressionsists were my choice. I explored one site and loved the work of Franz Kline. His oil painting," Untitled" ( c. 1959, National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC.) drew me.






It was this piece I used for my model. I used acrylics and had such fun splashing on colour.





I will leave you with some "colour" quotes by several artists:
Colour and I are one. I am a painter." Paul Klee, 1914.
"Instead of trying to reproduce exactly what I see before me, I make more arbitary use of colour to express myself more forcefully ... To express the love of two lovers by the marriage of two complementary colours ... To express the thought of a brow by the radiance of a light tone against a dark background. To express hope by some star. Someone's passion by the radiance of the setting sun." Vincent van Gogh, 1888.
"Colour helps to express light, not the physical phenomenon, but the only light that really exists, that in the artist's brain." Henri Matisse, 1945.
Just a reminder:
I have a giveaway for my 200th + post! Check it out here.

9 comments:

Regina said...

What a wonderful post! I must come back and follow some of the links when I have more time.
Your quotes are fabulous!

b said...

Great post! I loved the post on the colors used in masterpieces. Thanks - B.

Hybrid J said...

Such wonderful post on color! You're spot on about how we take color for granted. Thank you for sharing. :)

Elizabeth Golden said...

Great post!! Love all the sites you gave us to visit, and then the icing on the cake was your painting!

Leone said...

I love this exercise you have created for yourself and as usual you are so dedicated. I wish I wasn't so scattered. Do you still want to trade ATCs? I am doing a trade with my granddaughter starting this week so this would be a good time for me to start. Take care.

Tara said...

Hi Beverley! What a colorful post! I've got you down for my giveaway and thanks so much for visiting me at Loveleigh Treasures, it was a pleasure to meet you!

Rowena said...

I love color. Love love. I am definitely led by color and the way different color combinations work together. But this post makes me want to be even more experimental with color.

And thanks for posting that colorlovers site. I've seen it before, but lost it. It is supercool.

jerilyn said...
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Beverley Baird said...

Thank you all for stopping by! I need your support - you are there to help me along! Thanks so much!