Color Buzz

Cheerful Effects of Yellow

By Michèle Coppin

Vincent Van Gogh once said, "How wonderful yellow is. It stands for the sun." For Vincent, yellow represented happiness, love and hope. Many of his paintings have an abundance of yellow. He was fascinated with color and its effects, often experimenting with different ranges of tone, like in his famous Sunflower painting.

  

Completed in 1887, this painting was eventually sold in 1987 at an auction at Christie's in London for a record $39,921,750!

Indeed, yellow is cheerful, warm and uplifting, which is why I love this yellow house:

In a drab city street, this yellow stands as a celebration to light, an ode to color, a testimony to the owner’s cheerful composition, and happiness. It also seems to be contagious, as the neighbors’ color choice for their curtains and window flower boxes are becoming more daring.

They have also painted their tiny courtyard yellow, decorating it with Mexican tiles and plants.

Friday Project Series - Painting Stripes

By Michele Coppin

Stripes have gone in and out of fashion for centuries. Depending on the time period, stripes have been thin and close together or wide and far apart.

Mary Cassatt was an American artist (1844—1926) who captured scenes of everyday life in her charming, impressionist paintings, especially the social and private lives of women. In this painting called "The Cup of Tea,” two elegant ladies sip their beverage in a room decorated with Victorian-style stripes. The pink stripes are so dominant in this painting, they almost become the subject.

Currently, wide stripes are “in.” They are an easy and simple way to jazz up a wall. With the right color, a single wide stripe may suffice to modernize and bring a wall to life. Generally, higher walls look better with horizontal stripes, as they divide the space nicely and make them appear lower and more intimate, whereas vertical stripes make lower walls appear taller.
 
To paint a stripe:
- Paint the whole wall the base color. When the wall is dry, measure the stripe in pencil. Be sure to keep the marks very light, especially if you are using pale colors.
- With masking or painter's 3M tape, line the stripe following your pencil marks on the outside. (Tip: Wider tape will make your job easier. Press hard on the edge of the tape to avoid paint leaking under.)
- Paint the stripe with a roller. Let dry and repeat. Depending on the color, you may need two coats.
- Remove the tape and touch up the edges with a small brush.

This grey, horizontal stripe serves as a modern touch against the white background.

Beauty and the Bench

By Michele Coppin

I am currently participating in a fun Public Arts project in my hometown along with 15 other artists. I have been invited to decorate a bench on a promenade facing the marina—a popular hang out for Sunday strollers, after dinner walks, early morning dog walkers, bikers, joggers and teenagers. The effort to embellish this public space has been embraced by everyone with enthusiasm. 

The theme of this "Sit on Art" exhibit is "communication," as benches are a great place to meet friends, relax, chat with neighbors and strangers or just watch the world travel by. Each artist interpreted this idea differently. I chose a sexy, romantic approach to dialogue and conversation  by submitting the image of a woman immersed in golden bubbles. The images were printed on sail canvas which we wrapped around the benches.

Other interpretations are graffiti from the Berlin Wall, miscommunication, the Internet and poetry.

 

 

The Little Garden of Paradise

By Michele Coppin

When gardens spring to life, I am reminded of one of my favorite Medieval paintings, "The Little Garden of Paradise," by an anonymous German painter known as the Upper Rhenish Master. For me, this precious little masterpiece is a delicate, elegant and colorful poem, but for the people in the early 15th Century, it was a prayer and an homage to Mary. 

This tiny painting (26.3 cm x 33.4 cm) dating from the year 1410 shows details of a past world;  the corner of a garden within castle walls. This painting shows a pictorial antidote to the hardships of the time stricken by war, pestilence and famine.

The first gardens in Western Europe dated back to Antiquity, but they disappeared with the collapse of the Roman Empire and the subsequent chaos of the Barbarian invasions. Eventually, monasteries planted gardens in their cloisters for medicinal herbs and spices. In the Middle Ages, aesthetic gardens were very rare and reserved for nobility.

Medieval paintings were usually influenced by religion. This painting of paradise, however, is a charming mixture of botany, zoology and religious iconography complete with the Virgin Mary, Jesus, saints, an archangel, a devil and a dragon.

More than 20 species of plants have been identified, including symbolic flowers such as lilies for purity, violets for modesty, roses for virginity and primrose, which in German means "Himmels schlussel" or “key to heaven.”

Ten species of birds have also been identified including great tit, oriole, bullfinch, robin, woodpecker, waxwing, hoopoe and chaffinch.

The signs, allusions and symbols in this painting stand for concepts that represent paradise, as well as a growing awareness of nature, a first step on the long road to modernity.

The Winter Blues

By Michele Coppin

Winter blues are beautiful. Just think about the water, sky, ice, shadows, and snow. Shades of blue can be mysterious or crisp. I find most blues to be a true source of inspiration.

        

Many people consider blue as their favorite color. Blue is often the color new mothers choose when they are expecting a boy and it is often the color preferred by men (although some may argue!). Reminiscent of the sky and water, representing freshness and purity, blue creates feelings of calmness, serenity, peace, tranquility, safety and order—qualities we need in these tumultuous times. It is a spiritual color that stimulates the imagination, inspires our dreams and helps us focus during meditation.

Russian painter W. Kandinsky was once quoted as saying, "The inclination of blue to depth is so strong that its inner appeal is stronger when its shade is deeper. The darker the shade of the blue color, the stronger is its call to the infinite, the stronger the yearning for purity and finally the transcendental."

Indeed, blue encourages self-knowledge and inner search. Blue is also an invitation to travel, a call to adventure. Because it is the color of the vast oceans, blue suggests voyages, discoveries and distant horizons.
 
Blue can be a cheerful color, but it is usually regarded as calm and relaxing, creating a sensation of clarity and spaciousness. In Feng Shui, blue is the symbol of tranquility of the mind. The color encourages positive thinking and is often used to decorate offices because blue promotes productivity and concentration.

Blue is a good choice for bedrooms because its serene, soothing nature facilitates sleep. Because blue is often associated with water, hygiene, freshness and cleanliness, blue is also a favorite in bathrooms. I enhanced my blue bathroom with a combination of blue and white Mexican tiles:

                    

The only room where I would not recommend using blue paint is the kitchen. There are very few, if any, foods that are blue and the color does not stimulate our hunger. Because blue is not the most appetizing color, it is recommended only as an accent in kitchens.

There are many colors that pair well with blue, but as a general rule, you can’t go wrong with white or gray.

Pale blue goes well with yellow and creamy beiges.

                                 

                           Celestial Blue 4003-5C   Champagne Tickle 3001-2C

Teal and turquoise go well with browns and earth tones and pinks.

                                  

                           La Fonda Teal 5007-8B     Berry Brandy 1005-9B 

Navy blue goes well with red, strong pinks and white. 

                                           

                        Atlantic Schooner 4004-6C   Fabulous Red 1011-2

Purple-blue go well with greens.

                                      

                  Oatlands Velvet Night 4001-8B   Meadow Wind 6005-7B

For more on the history of blue, I recommend checking out Michel Pastoureau's gorgeous book "Blue, the History of a Color.” 

 

In Living Color

By Michele Coppin

New York is always buzzing with color. Following the old adage of life imitating art, wild and cheerful colors spill onto the streets from the Fauves exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the German expressionist exhibit at the Neue Galerie on Fifth Avenue.

The Fauves, meaning “Wild Beasts” in French, were a short lived and loose grouping of early century modern artists whose work emphasized painterly qualities and strong colors. One of its founders, French painter Henri Matisse, celebrated color with contrasting and bright color schemes.

     
                            

 Similarly, German expressionists like Ernst Ludwig Kirchner used powerful, sometimes violent color combinations as means of expression.

                             

These eccentric color palettes are currently walking all over town. New Yorkers are spotted sporting strong contrasting colors, reveling in multicolored ensembles and polychromatic fashions. The New York Times “On the Street” photographer, Bill Cunningham, illustrates this trend in his recent slide show from the Style pages. Mr. Cunningham points out that in this ailing economy, the best tonic is adding "pick me up" colors to our lives; colors that are bright and strong, fun and unapologetic.

                                     

So, if you are feeling down, maybe a bright scarf, different colored socks or shocking red lipstick might just be what the doctor ordered. That is at least what this Beehive girl recommends!

Books on Color for Christmas

I love books, especially in the winter! You can curl up with a hot cup and read, read, read. Books make wonderful Christmas gifts. They tell a person you appreciate their interests and want to support what they love. When you're thinking of what to get your favorite artist, aspiring designer, color enthusiast or do-it-yourself guru, try taking a look at some of these beauties.

For the fine arts painter:

Color Theory by Jose Parramon

This amazing book explains how color works in nature and gives examples of how color can be manipulated, mixed and juxtaposed. It talks about color harmonies, complements, contrasts and how to work with cool and warm hues.


For the total color-lover:

Color: A Natural History of the Palette by Victoria Finaly

You can eat this book up; it's a rich and engaging look at color. The author brilliantly breaks the book into chapters by color, each dedicated to the history, lore and use of a particular color. 

Black: The History of a Color by Michel Pastooureau

The author takes us from the very beginnings of our exploration of painting when our ancestors turned to carbon for their pigment. This beautiful and generous image-filled book takes us through the ages, up to current culture, and how and why color still holds such power.

Blue: The History of a Color by Michel Pastooureau

“Pastoureau's text moves us through one fascinating area of activity to another. The jacket, cover and end papers of this luscious book are, appropriately, blue; its double-columned text breathes easily in the space of its pages. It is o well sewn it opens flat at any place. The fascinating, aptly chosen color plates, not confined to the title color, will please even those eyes denied the good luck of being blue.”
(Synopsis by William Gass, Los Angeles Times Book Review)

A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire by Amy Butler Greenfield

"Elusive, expensive and invested with powerful symbolism, red cloth became the prize possession of the wealthy and well-born," Greenfield writes in her intricate, fully researched and stylishly written history of Europe's centuries-long clamor for cochineal, a dye capable of producing the "brightest, strongest red the Old World had ever seen."
(Synopsis by Publisher's Weekly)

The Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games

By Ann McGuire 

Today marks the beginning of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics Games and the world’s attention will be focused on Beijing over the next two weeks.

I was just going through a gorgeous book, China, Portrait of a Country. It’s a compilation of images, showing the People’s Republic as seen through the eyes of 88 Chinese photographers. Everything is vivid and red is obviously omnipresent. The use of this strong color in these photographs is very powerful, but never overwhelming. It’s usually set against a neutral like khaki or grey. You can see it pop beautifully against the background as opposed to taking over.

I’ve read that Beijing is a city of grey with the only other colors being the golden yellows of the roofs and the red of the Forbidden City. I can’t wait to see the opening ceremonies and check out how the creators of this event use their rich and vibrant national color: red. 

The Art of Color

By Ann McGuire

Check out today's Washington Post article "The Art of Color." Reporter, Anne Kenderdine discusses how museum curators go about finding the perfect color to paint their gallery walls so that they bring out the best in the art hanging there.  The article runs the gamut from pop contemporary art to more classical pieces. What you get from reading this is that each situation is different and needs its own color to reflect that.  The article encourages you to go to your nearby museum to be inspired by the colors there that were painstakingly picked out by professionals.

The Colors of Food

By Michele Coppin

The color of fruits and vegetables can be as beautiful as the color of flowers. The color combinations and variations are endless as they grow, ripen and mature.  Fruits and vegetables have actually been inspiring artists for centuries. “Food portraits” are known as “still lifes.”

Jan Van Huysum, Still Life with Fruit
Oil on copper, 1720
Rijhsmuseum, Amsterdam

These delicious palettes herald the presence of nutrients. Color indicates the ingredients we need for good health. For example:

REDS are packed with vitamins (A C), protect your heart, maintain good blood pressure, and help to protect against some cancers.

GREENS are packed with vitamins (A,C,B,K), provide a source of iron, and boost your immune system.

YELLOW and ORANGE are packed with vitamins (C and B) that keep you eyes strong, boost your immune system and promote glowing skin.

WHITE, such as cheese and yogurt, is packed with calcium.

Some of my favorites in both appearance and taste are asparagus, baby artichokes, fresh garlic, cheese and bread. A glass of red wine would complement this tableau nicely…

Greens speak of youth, nature, fresh starts and cool mornings. Purples, dark reds and burgundy suggest the end of summer, setting sun, heat, and royalty. These opposites however make a very elegant color combination.

 

                                                   
Tropical foliage 6002 – 6C                               Garden Fresh 6008 – 7C

                                                

Hotel St Francis Sangre de Christo 1010 – 6    Accent Frosty Berry 1003 – 1B