NON academic colour studies

There was talk on the quiltart list today about learning about colour. Some people do well with colour theory and the making of colour wheel, tonal charts and tint charts, and doing Itten inspired contrast studies. Others, like me, are less than inspired with these formal exercises and do better with a hands on approach to learning about colour; how it can sing when next to another colour, how tints and tonal variations can enrich the pallette, how unusual colour contrasts can express emotion. When I used to teach painting, I found that hands on exercises with a tangible finished product was very satisfying to the young student as well as an intuitive way of understanding colour.

One favourite exercise was to select a painting by a modern master and reproduce the image in complementary colours to the original. The tones and tints must remain the same however. This made the student really analyze the original and really SEE the colour...not as a simple red for instance. But a medium toned reddish green perhaps. The opposite would be a medium toned greenish red. The results were quite wonderful and taught the student more than colour theory in that they became aware that amazing colour contrasts can be achieved with more subtle forms of a given hue. As a corollary, they also discovered that the colour palette of the original was carefully selected to achieve the artists' intent. Here are some examples from a highschool class:



















You may recognize some of these ...the top left a Matisse interior, left middle top Picasso portrait and the far right Van Goghs chair. The contemporary yellow blue face is an artist whose name escapes me.

I offer similar exercises in fabric where a limited palette of only two colours in all their permutations plus black and white, results in a rich exploration of ALL the possibilities within the parameters.




So for people like me whose eyes glaze over at the mention of theory, this kind of alternate method of hands on discovery may be just the ticket!

The ART of Gees Bend

Pettway/ Mark Rothco


Pettway/Frank Stella

Bendolf/Mondrian


Pettway/ Barnett Newman

There seems to be less than universal accolades for the phenomenon of the Gees Bend quilt/art. Well at least amongst art quilters I hear on various e-lists I am on. The most recent was to question whether the popularity and critical acclaim these artists have received may be just clever spin doctors and self serving curators trying to drum up business. I confess, I am puzzled that some fail to see the remarkable beauty and ART these works display. A lot of the nay sayers mention "poor workmanship and materials" as a reason to dismiss them. Others don't see how outsider ladies could be possibly be making art when all that they were doing was making warm bedding out of reclaimed garments. I was struck by the originality of the works when they first appeared at the Whitney in New York, and that was only from looking at the online pictures. When I actually saw the show in Orlando I felt MOVED by them...not just from the history of their makers but for the amazing instinctive beauty of the designs and use of the faded pentimento in the fabrics. I wish I had that seemingly ingrained intuitiveness as I design MY work. One of the artists when asked HOW she developed the design replied that she cut up the various colored shapes, moved them around on her bed until they "looked right".

Well isn't that what all artists do? At least those that pursue excellence and personal input in there work? I googled some well known modern artists such as Paul Klee, Mondrian and Rothco and was struck by the similarities of composition and expression to the Gees Bend work. I am convinced....these are ART!

IKEA design wall

Just a few pics to show the portable design set up I use. It's a wheeled coat rack from Ikea with an 4x8" insulation foam covered with felt. Very cheap, works a treat!

Matisse getting it right

For those Interested...this phenomenon of revealing the earlier attempts in a composition is called PENTIMENTO in artspeak.

Runaway Tooth Fairy

I thought I would throw this one out there forthe quiltart list. This is a second tooth fairy as a memento of the saga of my broken front teeth. It's been a year since the damage was done, and at that time a made a rather "pretty" tooth fairy, similar to a medieval illustration. At least that's where my starting point was. Now that the full enormity of it all has hit, I needed to make another one...bigger, more substantial and downright scary...something like my dental bill. It measures about 50"x60". I sort of started it with the same influences in the back of my mind...medieval hyper decorated and precious. But she would have none of it and became a kind of Frankenstein! So now I am embellishing and have come to a standstill. I can see that baubles and gemstones won't do. I am toying with the idea of using dental instruments ( which my dentist kindly gave me) as embellishment. I dunno....maybe too wacko?

Motivation

This evening one of my husband's sons was visiting. We began talking about what makes us do it so to speak.....make art, I mean ( both DH and step son are painters). Our son, Luke, had just met a man on a work site who it turns out is an artist he has admired for years and who is now exhibiting in our local museum. This had made Luke feel discouraged as he himself seemed not to be doing as good work, not having sold much and not getting any exhibitions offered. This led to a more general discussion about why we work at all.

Now my husband Ralph ( who is 80 BTW, and has painted now for 62 years!!!!) seems to need to paint as an personal expression. And that's IT! He has not shown his work in over a decade, but continues to go into the studio every day as usual. His drive is purely private and self contained and it sustains him through fertile periods and blocked times as well

I on the other hand am almost manic in my drive to get the work I make OUT THERE and enter every show going where my work might be suitable. My friends call me a show slut!!! It got me thinking.....do I do it to make a living? NOT...even tho' I do bring in some income , it is hardly a living wage. Do I do it to gain acceptance, or better yet, accolades? I had to accept that the answer there is yes. But only partly.There is also an element of "what else would I be doing" if not making art. I wake up most days eager to go to work. I think about the projects I'm working on constantly. I spend quite a lot of time taking care of the business side too...online or mailing off proposals and such. And I keep in touch with like minded people all over the world thanks to the internet. Having a creative career seems to make life richer, more hopeful and full of pleasure because of this. So I guess I am not one who is compelled to make art for it's own sake. I make art for the rewards of being part of something bigger and richer.

I get on a roll sometimes....not frequently as most of the time it's a lot of problem solving and a bit of a struggle. But isn't it a great feeling when you get into a sort of creative groove, and the conversation between you and your work is lively and productive?

Just to keep the post visual as well, I'll show a WIP that's got me atwitter right now. I recently took a fat book out of the library on an artist who was a big favorite when I was a student. Eduard Vuillard (see painting of two figures). Very intimate, domestic scenes done in a very narrow range of tones and colour. It got me enthused again and I started a piece with the same restrictions of tone and pattern. It's a slight departure from my normal "in your face" humor and subject matter. In fact as the work progresses the narrative became very tranquil. Usually at some point my figure starts to tell me what she's doing....like getting a haircut, or playing a violin. In this case the only action is taking a coffee break! Haha!

Garden that's MINE MINE MINE

Here is my Grandkid sized garden piece called "BUGS AND OTHER LIVING THINGS" It measures 57"x42"