COLOR RUT

I tend to work in long form content manifestations, also known as a series. Broken Bank Note, and other efforts, have all had at least 5 iterations. It is rare that I create a one-off or singular expression. Usually those are just failures of a complete idea. Even my new direction has great series potential. More on that in a future post. However, I have a problem: I suffer from the overuse of certain colors based on many factors, but mostly archivability and convenience.

Why?
To a large degree, I know what I know. So it becomes convenient. It hurts to admit that, but I guess that's the first step. I also know it helps create a uniform appearance in a series and has a lot of impact on gallery walls. You know ...when you present multiple iterations on a theme in a monolithic color scheme, it can be quite stunning in a large gallery space. It also helps to keep a production standard on the mixing palette, so you can work multiple paintings at a time and not be in constant cleanup. I know all that reads very sales-oriented, but I am in the business of moving ideas, not storing paintings. It helps to know what creates impact for buyers. However, this can water down ideas and present one-dimensional efforts. It’s a fine line between the coolness of the monolithic color study on multiple pieces, and just being a lazy painter. I was getting worried I was becoming the latter.

Struggle?
The Broken Bank Note paintings' color schemes come from that nation's paper currency, making it very difficult to create color consistency between multiple paintings. This was brutally challenging for me. I used a consistent size and scale to achieve the uniform look, needed for a strong visual presence. As for the colors, while I did have the paper currency as a guide, creating colors I had never mixed before was difficult for me. Many pieces of foreign currency use soft tertiary color palettes that can be difficult to mix, especially if you have overly image and advertising saturated western eyes. I call it being “star spangled”. We see a lot of red and blue in everything in the west. TV, print advertising, online efforts. Some derivation of those colors are everywhere. We live in primary land. Conversely, those colors are almost nonexistent in a lot of other parts of the world. There are many reasons, too big to tackle here. Some of the reasons are fascinating, so I may visit this in a future post. But nonetheless, getting red and blue out of your mix is hard.

Muddy Violet.
I needed help and I needed to find answers that were beyond me. I normally do a lot of experimenting, but my color experiments were getting expensive and going nowhere. I was just ending up with lots of violet mud. Then it occurred to me. I needed to toss out every paint I was using and buy colors I would never use. That exercise was tough. Every tube I touched I said “but wait, I really like this color for _fill in the blank". So after hours of excruciating debate in my head over every tube, I decided much like a hoarder on a TV series, to pack them in another box and put in storage. This way I can revisit these colors once this exercise was complete. However, I may never use them again.

Self Help Book.
On my dusty shelf, I realized I had the answer staring at me in the form of a book I never bothered to open a second time. CHROMATOPIA: An Illustrated History Of Colour was purchased a couple of years ago, flipped through and left unattended. In its pages were answers that I needed. David Coles presents, in very succinct ways, the history of color and the root of pigment. My search began for new palettes based on this book’s revelations to me. I am not suggesting that it has recipes for color mixing, but it has very good fundamentals that you can apply to color mining, beyond what you may already know. I played with hues that I never thought possible and I can certainly say this is a new journey for me.

Wrap Up.
As I work on this new direction, I am utilizing a new approach to color, fueled by this book. I still have a little of that “star spangled” color in my mix, but it is softer than ever before and has complementary secondary colors that both challenge and intrigue the viewer. I am certainly just starting to develop and perfect a new color regime, but I am as excited by the nuance and depth of the new palette, as anything I have done before. Maybe even more so. Some of you are studied painters and may be saying to yourself "this idiot can’t mix colors." That would be fairly accurate. I am getting better. If you need a little boost or a history refresher, it is a great book. If you already know this and have a better book or different approach, please share. Send me an email or text me. And, if like me, you have been in a color rut, maybe this book is just the answer. Search for it used or find it online. Not only is it really helpful, the photographs of pigments and raw earth materials are gorgeous, and it has some wonderful use of type.