I love colour. Neutrals and earth tones are beautiful, well loved and often trendy….but me: it’s all about COLOUR! The brighter the better. Bright colour demands attention and says “I’m here”. I dream in technicolour and I ponder whether I see more colour than other people. However, last week during my weekly art demo with Calgary Community Painters, I realized other people see extraordinary colour everywhere, as well. Ingrid Christensen, an extremely accomplished portrait and figure artist demonstrated a remarkable portrait painting, in just over an hour. She had us squinting and seeing vibrant coulours: green, bright pink and purple in the face of a lovely raven haired, fair skinned model. I know this model; her skin is alabaster and her hair is ebony…but we all saw reflected wonderful brilliant colours. Often, we miss the spectacular colours surrounding us in our ordinary lives.
Today, while driving home from work, the angle of the sun cast a glow over our city and the yellow leaves shone like metallic gold and the green grass reflected brilliant pink. This morning, while still dark, our huge yellow moon shone bright pink with a turquoise shimmer. Later in the day, I read about the ‘blood moon’ and realized the colour was related to a unique eclipse. How fantastic to see such marvelous hues on routine daily commutes.
A few years ago, before I shared my art with others, my husband and I purchased our first original painting from a Calyx show here in Calgary. It was a vibrant autumn scene by Eleanor Lowden Pidgeon. The red, orange and gold jewel tones with pops of purple and emerald green screamed at me. It was only recently that I realized that the painting reminded me of the many paintings my artistic grandma had scattered throughout our family home as I grew up. My grandma taught me to paint and her paintings were always brilliant autumn scenes of Ontario, before she travelled across Canada by stage coach. Grandma Clifford taught me to paint and to dream in technicolour.
As you go about your days, take a longer look, squint if you must and if you look hard enough, you’ll see colours you have never noticed. Maybe you too can be addicted to colour…It feels great!