Color!

To start out...I looked for the specific prompt for this blog and the most updated information I could find was "blog post requirements to follow"...so I'm just going to talk about what i liked about the reading....but anyways I have to admit I was somewhat confused in class last week when we did our intro to color.  I understand the gist of it, and how the basics are red blue and yellow and every other color is formed from that, and how hues and tints work..but the actual "science" of it phased me a little.  However once i dug into the reading I understood more about the concept of color and what makes it so special.  One comparison Itten made about color struck my attention, and that is how color and music are so simmilar- two things i would have never put together.  He also compared musicians and painters to each other, saying "a musician may know counterpoint and still be a dull composer, if he lacks insight and inspiration.  Just so, a pointer may know all the resources of composition in form and color, yet remain sterile if inspiration be denied him."

This chapter also stressed just generally how important color is to our world.  Color is what gives the world life, and with out it, everything would be dull and dead.  Our world comes alive and functions through the use of color.  Even though we may not realize it, color has a huge impact on our lives.  Naturally we see dark colors as something that is sad, frightening or negative, and lighter warmer colors as happy, peaceful, or positive.  It is our natural intention to be happy when a rainbow is in the sky and sad or concerned when the sky is full of dark thick clouds.

It was helpful to learn more details of the study of color, especially approaching the topic in three directions- impression, expression, and construction.  Breaking color down into different categories allowed me to focus in on a correct way of studying colors- looking at the visual aspect, then an emotional, then a symbolic.  The rest of the explanations all seemed a little repetitive but I got the basic idea between relationships of colors and how they interact and interchange with each other.

Basically, what we did in class became a lot less confusing once i read about color hues and tints and was able to sit down and study the formulas and look at the wheel to really understand how they function.