Creative Energy: July 10, 2020

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“Over Under”

Acrylic painting on canvas 24”x24”
Observe how the pinks and yellows change, based on the colors next to them.

 
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The Interaction of Color

“Colors appear what they are not, according to the ground which surrounds them.” Josef Albers. The author of The Interaction of Color, Yale University Press in 1963.

Vincent Castagnacci, a Yale graduate, taught my color theory class at the University of Michigan. His teaching was based on Albers’ principles.

In class, we studied the relationships and interaction between different colors. We used 220 different colors and shades from a pack of color-aid paper to create our "color-studies”.

We were given the tools to experiment, but we had to unlock the magic of color by seeing the difference between colors and how they interact. Later I would realize that this class would be the most influential class I would take at UM. My eyes were opened.

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On Color

Our lives are full of color and for this reason this book is for everyone. On Color by David Scott Kastan with Stephen Farthing. They investigate color from numerous perspectives: literary, historical, cultural, anthropological, philosophical, art historical, political, and scientific. In ten lively and wide-ranging chapters, each devoted to a different color, they examine the various ways colors have shaped and continue to shape our social and moral imaginations.

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Impressionists and Violet

Violet became the color of choice for Impressionist. It differentiated the palette of impressionism from any paintings before. Manet said, “I have finally discovered the true color of the atmosphere; it is violet”

Stacks of Wheat by Claude Monet at The Chicago Art Institute

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