Is it REALLY Black?

When I was trying to advance my understanding of high-contrast black and white (think Rembrandt), I created a series titled, "Hidden World (at the White Lotus)." After I finished the originals, I took them to my favorite giclee (fine art prints) artist, Janet Smith of Sterling Editions, and asked her to recreate the colors.

Seems I put a very hard task in front of her. She commented that there were many shades and tones of black in each painting.

What does that mean? According to sources, black is the absence of light. Black alone makes for a lack of information to the viewer. Here are paintings by some of the masters. Do you notice what they did to give form and focus (or unfocus) to the object?

(click on image to enlarge)

"Portrait in Black & Grey" - James McNeil Whistler

"The Brawl" - Giacomo Ceruti

"Portrait of a Bearded Man" - Giorione Barbarelli

"Petunia - Purple & Black" - Georgia O' Keeffe

"The Bellelli Family" - Edgar Degas

(Next blog will be about Pierre Soulages. He is a 91-year old French painter who has been painting in black since the 1970s.)

František Kupka: Evolution of an Artist

One of my delights is to find art books with beautiful reproductions of an artist's works. I was in a local used book store when I came upon an artist who was new to me. His name? František Kupka (1871-1957).

The colors and the rhythm of his works were captivating. I wanted to know more about him.

Kupka was born in Bohemia and studied fine arts at the academy in Prague. He continued his studies in Vienna and Paris. During the course of his career, he evolved from the realism of his studies to pure abstraction. (He was a pioneer and co-founder of the abstract art movement.)

Let's move through the evolution of this gifted artist, yes?

"The Book Lover" (1897)



"The Wave" (1902)



"The Cathedral" (1912-13)



"Creation" (1920)



"Two Grays II" (1928)



"Sourire O" (1933)



"Prism" (1947)


Do you have a favorite period of his artistic evolution? Could you say why?

Perceptions of Purple

While creating a purple iris painting, my mind went back to color theory class and the story of purple. The dye came from a snail. (It's amazing to me that anyone would figure how to do that... perhaps a tiny milking stool...)It was, like gold, considered rare and valuable. Therefore, it was the color worn exclusively by royalty.

Since royalty often took on the dual role of secular and spiritual leaders, purple came to be associated with spirituality. Interestingly, these perceptions of purple were not only the case for Western Europe, but also for Egypt, Persia and even as far back in history as Phoenicia and the Minoans. (Phoenicia is Greek for land of the purple.)

Over the years, other sources for the dye and even synthetic purple were created. This made purple dye more available.
Today, in our world of marketing, purple with its mix of red warmth and blue coolness is considered to be exciting yet calming.

What do you think about when you see or wear purple? What associations do you make when you think of purple?