Color interaction

Is the color we see through our human eyes the "true" hue? It is true that the colors lying next to another color effects the tonal value. For example, the true yellow takes orange hue if the surrounding color is red. If it is placed on blue, it gets the blue tone. Our brain is "tricked" to perceive the color according to the surroundings.



For this example, the blue bands from dark to light value makes the gray background look like it has gradual change of values.

Joseph Alber's Interaction of Colors shows different array of colors that is well needed by the modern artists of today. First published in 1971, it contains 150 color plates of screen printing. It is important to really understand what makes the color seem different, because as artist and designers the subtle control over color enables them to know what to bring out and what to diminish.


Picture from,"Color Interactions" ,Percieve http://www.hutchinsoncenter.umaine.edu/perceive/MachBandExt.html, 1/05/2008

Composition

Basically this assignment drove me to insanity. Drawing medium sized rectangles and coming up with a simple design was no big deal, but to transfer the design on every squares and painting pieces by pieces involved so much concentration power and my patience. I just couldn't hide away from perfectionism which by the way, is almost like an instinct that is embedded into my tiny brain-flaw or not. The project just told me to paint every millimeters of edges as perfectly as possible, thus the whole thing took me about 2 days non stop to finish. But it was fun to see different abstract shapes made by varying tints and shades. I think it was another good study of color, but just too much to fill up.

Color Scale

Yes, as an artist, having a correct knowledge of colors and the scales is very important indeed. There are three main color scales; monochromatic- the same hue in ranges of shades, tone, and tints-, complementary- colors that are complete opposite on color wheel-, and analogous- colors which includes main primary. I choose blue for my primary color, orange being complementary. The most tedious scale in the project I thought is monochromatic, as test color chips had to be made and put together the shades, tints and tones in order of what makes sense in individual's eyes. without the test chips, I found it hard to mix the correct color, especially matching tones with pure tints. I didn't know how important it was and ignored the process, until when I started painting I realized it is not working. However creating other scales were pretty easy, especially the complementary, as it only involved mixing small amounts of opposite colors towards the darkest color, and slowly brightening up to other complementary color. Analogous was fun to play with, because through the process I found different mixes of colors that I liked.

Chromatic Gray

Normally, people would mix black and white to create gray. What people don't realize is that there are different tones and hues of gray which can be created by mixing various colors with white. It all starts with mixing primary colors- or perhaps secondary- for main hue, and from there on mix in white while balancing the hue by subtly adding in the main colors. It is a long process, and I at first, was skeptical about the result, but in the end I've created gray. By this study, I've found that my belief on what gray is set on the general knowledge of the color, thus I was in denial of the end result which seemed more like a pastel tone rather then gray. But gray is in the pastel group, and metal objects proves that gray is not limited to black and white combination, as it's reflective character shows other colors on the object. After this tedious process of learning about gray, painting metallic object was a new turn for me. I no longer used black in order to get the silvery effect, which effected the overall painting- by not using black, my painting seemed to have more depth and looked realistic. It was a good exercise to remind me why already made black is not a reliable color to artists.


Picture from http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/IMG/gray10.gif, painting in Neutrals, Bruce MacEvoy last revised 11/12/2007, (1/05/2008)

Colors of the World

Although the same color exsist within the world we live in, it is interesting to say that each countries use different ranges and tones of color which represents their culture, character and history. For example, the range of colors in South Korea characterizes around red, blue, yellow, green, and brown. This can be seen in the ancient architectures like the South gate.

In contrary, Spain, the country itself has a general range of color that represents them also. Their traditional clothes I've seen has red, green, white and black the most. It is almost as if the colors are inspired from what they eat, like red from tomatoes, green from Jalapino pepper, white from onions and black from the beans. From here one can say that the natural resources of the country effects their preference of colors they want to use.
The colors around the country also depends on what the society within the land believes to represent . Ireland considers green as a lucky color because it was all they saw from clovers and shamrocks,and also coming from their own myth that lapricons hides gold at the end of the rainbow. Japan and China has similar beliefs on red, seeing them as royal and lucky color.
However, United States of America is a different story; because the society is made up of various cultures since the immigration, the specific culture of the continent doesn't seem to exsist. Thus, the colors is what the citizens from different countries generally agree on to. But it is not unique; the colors to us, has to be funtionable for the public.
The streets are not so much characterized with color, but it is more dull and gray.
Thus, the more a country has deep root to their own culture, the more characterized their color is.



Pictures source:
-South Gate http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2379/1571518831_2cdbe697ce.jpg
_Flamingo Dress http://www.internetretailer.biz/product_images/117/main.jpg

Colors in Society

Different colors brings out diverse responses from people. It is as if the colors are already programed in our brain to recognize as some sort of meaning. Through color, general communications can be exchanged instantly, and common colors respectively take same meaning to most people. However, this doesn't mean all races in the world sees the same color as the same. Red in this country, is mostly known to people as evil, but in China, red is a lucky color. Aside from the fact that red represents passion, love and anger as it takes the same meaning to most countries, but in some aspects on same color can symbolize something totally opposite.

The yellow flowers in this picture is very vibrant and energetic; this perspective on yellow may stem from emerging yellow flowers in spring which brings life to the dead winter scene. Sunshine also has yellow glow to it's rays- thus, yellow represents hope ,life and warmth. For it's bright color, it also is used for warning signs.



Orange takes two different meanings as it is a mix of yellow and red- orange takes the same meaning as yellow, warm and cheery. Intensity of the color red illuminates a sense of shock. Because of it's eye catching vibrancy, orange is mostly used in warning signs and construction sites.