Color

What is your favorite color?
When I was a child I just used color according to my fancy. Then I was educated about color by my mother. For example, while in kindergarten I received attention when I painted my clay bird “chartreuse”. At home my bedroom was maroon and white, an unusual scheme for a little girl, my mother had told me. When I was a bit older I would have liked a pink room like some others I had seen, but I never had that.  I do remember at 7 that I imagined and implemented a cardboard portfolio cover for my artwork out of tempera paint. It depicted ballet dancers all in shades of pink. This was a case of my inspiration exceeding my abilities. A few years later at summer camp we were having a dance. Again I decided to go with the pink theme. I borrowed shorts and a sweater in pale pink and my counsellor let me wear a bit of pink lip gloss. My whole life I have been fond of pink and fluffy pink tutus ! I like pink – all shades of pink. It is not my favorite color; but it is a really great color.

In art school ” color theory” is a traditional part of the curriculum. My cousin Judith Bender and my mentor Nicholas Wilton had great courses in color theory . One went to art school on the east coast and the other on the west coast ,and many years apart. The course both of them took involved the rigorous mixing of shades of various colors. I had no such course. I am curious about the color courses others have had. What kind of color course did you have?

At Parsons School Of Design I was taught by Martin Canon, a New York painter  who is dedicated to minimalism and color relationships. At the time he was interested in colors that vibrate. I learned that the colors that are opposite on the color wheel will vibrate. I learned that colors work as a relationship. I discovered great color combinations, but I still could not answer that question from my childhood—still no favorite color.

Later, I learned that the color of the light source influences the color of the shadow. If you shine a green light on a glass of milk the shadow will be red. Then, I saw this everywhere and I painted trees and people that made use of this fascinating information. My best friend asked me what type of painting was this. I replied that it was realism; and she laughed really hard.

I learned the great term “tertiary color” which just means mixing 3 colors. I learned the term “close color” which means “not a lot of contrast”. I started to appreciate shades of color.

Last year I heard the words”harmonious” color. Then I understood that I had spent a good part of my life functioning on the level of intuition and personal taste ( which heartens back to my mother). When I was unsure what color to use I considered the opposite first. Last year I heard the word”mid tones”. Many artists stay in the realm of mid- tones, but any and every color can be either light dark or in the middle when mixed with others. Once more I understood that color is about a relationship. Every time I paint I learn about color. The joy of painting is in a large part the joy of color; but I still cannot answer the question ” what is my favorite color”. In fact, I do not even know the names of some of the colors that I am mixing. The mysteries of color, the mixing of colors that are vaguely imagined and then discovering these colors that have no name and are so pleasing when applied are the reward or the special prize of the creative effort.