Abstract Landscape Painter. Rural Dweller. Lover of Modernist Art and Design.
Yellow
I have finished both of the paintings that I have been working on this week. I'm more pleased with the one featuring Rosie. It's an odd juxtaposition to put a 3-D object into an abstract painting, but the loose brushwork seems to make it work as a whole. It's also brighter and the shapes are simpler, which always appeals more to me.
I've found myself wanting to use much more yellow of late. I definitely go through different phases with my colour palette, which is also heavily influenced by the time of year and the weather. I feel as if I am surrounded by it at the moment. For example, I took a photo of rain over the garden at sunset the other evening. The sky had turned into a liquid gold and golden-yellow light poured through the branches of the trees.
Last night my partner asked me a very interesting question, which was whether I thought that it was possible to tell the time of year by looking at an artist's palette. You definitely could by looking at mine, because I am constantly absorbing what I see around me. Apart from this I think that there must also be some psychological reason for choosing different predominant colours at different times. Margaret Thatcher apparently never trusted anyone that wore yellow. Why? What did it say to her? Too frivolous? Wouldn't concentrate? Not in the "real world"? Who knows? When I was a small child yellow was my favourite colour. That was replaced by blue when I became older. I used to ask my Mum and Dad what their favourites were - Dad's was red, Mum's was blue, so between us we held the primary colours and anything was possible. I think that even though she now has dementia, my Mum still seems to react to colour. She will "comment" on it, in her way, if I wear or carry something in a colour that she likes, and she doesn't react to much now. It seems to be a very primeval thing for us. I wonder if we have a special relationship with it all our lives?
I suppose, for me at the moment, it represents light and warmth and therefore hope and relaxation and freedom.
All text and images ©2013 Carol Saunderson
