…. yellow is a colour that always draws my attention and is a favourite of mine, I was married in a lovely yellow dress!
This week I picked up a new art book ‘The Secret Lives of Colour’ by Kassia St Clair.
In the introduction to the book Kassia describes her approach ... “I take a colour and pull it apart at the seams to discover it’s hidden mysteries …”
It's the sort of book that is ideal to dip into whenever the opportunity arises. Under the heading of Yellow, Kassia writes about …. Blond; Red-tin Yellow; Indian Yellow; Acid Yellow; Naples Yellow; Chrome Yellow; Gamboge; Orpiment; Imperial Yellow and Gold.
So I started with Yellow! No surprise …
This section covers a lot of territory, travelling from the 1895 arrest of Oscar Wilde “What decent many would be seen openly walking the streets with a yellow book” to India where yellow is symbolic of peace and knowledge, and is particularly associated with Krishna, who is generally depicted wearing a vivid yellow robe!
For me the greatest interest lies in the stories of the early yellow pigments and that “with the exception of the yellow iron ochres, which even at their best tend to be a little dull and brownish, there were no yellow pigments that were completely reliable until the twentieth century”.
Inspired by my new discoveries about colour, I'm now getting back into the flow of my art practice and have been playing with ….
1.
Sketching using an Art Graf square block in yellow ochre! The square is water soluble as well as being soft and rich – very satisfying to work with!
2.
Using some of my still large stash of fabric as a collage material in some small paintings … this little piece is 20cms in diameter, acrylic paint and fabric collage on canvas, mounted on wood panel.3.
3.
Painting small, quick studies inspired by my return to the pleasure of regular beach walks (when the weather is co-operative !)
I think this may be the start of a new series of work for me and I’m excited to see where it goes!
So 2024 is off to a fresh, yellow and interesting start!
I hope your 2024 is filled with colour, reasons to celebrate and new adventures ….
Thank you for taking the time to read … your interest and support is greatly appreciated!
Till next time CC