“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”  -Edgar Degas

I’ve been lost in color swatches and wheels. I’ve mentioned before that I’m taking an online class about color from Chris Cozen and Julie Pritchard. In this class we made color swatches of our paints to look at opaqueness and transparency. Then we made color wheels. Our first painting assignment was to make a monochromatic painting (above). Then for the next lesson we needed to make it complementary (below).

Then with a sheer purple glaze added:

Studying color is not very exciting. It must be a lot like the music theory classes my son groans about. Necessary work but not so entertaining – or easy. But if I want to tell stories with paint, I need to learn the language.

Speaking of my son – he came home Friday afternoon just long enough to do laundry and eat supper. His school is about two hours from us. He said he was hungry and out of quarters. It’s always good to see him. Next month he’ll be twenty-one. What a gift he has been. Where have those years gone!?

“We learn to see and speak as children primarily by imitation. The artist is merely the one who goes on learning after grown up. A good learner will finally learn the hardest thing: how to see one’s own world, how to speak one’s own words.” -Ursala K. Le Guin