Colors. Colours. Whichever spelling you use, color has an incredible effect on our lives. I like color. I am a painter. Watercolor painting is my favorite. Although, I’ve painted with acrylic (which, as you may know, can be thinned to act much like watercolor). I do not, however, really like to paint with acrylic! No! No! Give me watercolor any day.
Some time ago, I wrote about how I DO NOT LIKE WHITE! Some of my readers do like white – BOY, do they like white. For me, it’s not that I don’t like the absence of color as we know it. It’s that I don’t like an abundance of white.
Today, we see so many white cars. So many white trucks. We see so many white houses (with black trim). Too much white. Too many white houses. And, for me, the houses are ugly. Some say they think it is because white paint is less expensive. I called my local ACE hardware store and asked that question. I was assured that paint with color is not more expensive than white paint. No difference.
So, what is it that causes people to think that white houses or buildings trimmed in black (always black) are magnificent enough to paint their buildings white – with black trim (always black)? In my neighborhood, we have a white house, trimmed in black. I’ve talked about it before. I think of it as an eyesore. In no way does it’s architecture and color fit with that of our neighborhood. Which is made up of ranch-style houses, generally single stories with brick construction. I’m not implying that every house must look like every other house, but some consistency is welcomed. This ugly, white house is like a pea in a cornfield. It is a weed.
As a watercolorist, I love jump-off-the-wall colors. My almost-favorite color is blue. When I am in a house where the walls are all consistently white, I wonder if the life/lives of the people who live there are so bland that they have no color.
Larry built a five-hundred-square-foot room for my use. He always complained that I never sat at the art desk and painted anything. Part of that room was planned for my office. The “big room” office with desk, computer, file drawers, shelves, cabinets replaced my basement office; the basement room morphed into a part of my library. In another corner of the room is my second wood stove with its catalytic converter. The colors in this room are greys (grey walls so paintings can be hung on nails pounded into the carpeted, grey walls), green wainscot, and just a little white. It is the only room in my home that is not predominately blues – as I said, my second favorite color.
My favorite color is Opera by Holbein. It is that jump-off-the-wall color that I love. If I could get away with painting every picture with Opera, I would. Somehow, however, everyone wanting paintings for their walls doesn’t necessarily appreciate Opera the same way I do. So, I do use other colors. Next in line of favorites are Schminke watercolor paints from Germany. My son-in-law was working in Germany; while there he was kind enough to go to the source and get a set Schminke to bring home to me. When I work in the field, sketching and filling in the images with color, Schminke is my pick. I like them so much that I have three different sizes of travel palettes. Small, large, and largest. They fit nicely into the bag that I take away from my house for plein air work.
But, let’s get back to white. There are reasons for white. Working on watercolor paper, we leave the paper uncolored to have white as a part of our image. We don’t add a white paint. The paper does the job for us.
Years ago, when “having your colors done” was in fashion, I followed suit. Turns out that I’m an “Autumn.” That means – no white and no black clothing. Then, when I was the school super on the Eastern Plains, the school’s colors were – you guessed it – black and white. So, I learned to wear black and white for the kids. To this day, I still have one or two white garments; tee shirts, mostly. One long-sleeved sweater for winter. And, I wear black and silver jewelry on it!
As I’ve said, I love, love, love color. For me, artist Paul Klee said it best.
“Color possesses me. I don’t have to pursue it. It will possess me always, I know it. That is the meaning of this happy hour. Color and I are one… I am a painter.”
Be Safe and Be Well
The Cranky Crone
Thoughtful comments are appreciated.
3 replies on “Let’s Talk Colors”
Opera is one of my favorite watercolor paints also!!
Wow, that is a gorgeous shade, your favorite. Mine is sea green in all its iterations. When we moved to our house in Flagstaff the exterior of the house and most of the rooms in the interior were sort of a chocolate milk brown. My 3 living areas were this color. So dark. I despised the color. I have since painted my bedroom sea salt, my bathroom slow green and my living dining kitchen spare white. Spare white has just a tinge of green like old fashioned bottles. My area is my sanctuary really. Grandkids only come down with permission. I have wanted to paint all the brown rooms upstairs but have only succeeded in painting one room. It takes so many coats to get rid of this color I’ve had to use both primer and Paint with primer in it. The kids don’t mind the brown upstairs, but we all want to have the exterior painted. Evan likes poppyseed, a dark gray blue purple. I do too. Becca is more of an olive green or sage green. Which I like too. No fighting though because painting a house down here costs a fortune so we just patch it with brown. Blah.
I have the answer. The reason is global warming. White reflects the sun. People are waking up to fact that our planet is getting hotter . Simple. I would much prefer a white car.