One Painting 16 Colors - Looking at a painting by Katherine Greene

This week I’m sharing something a little different! I’ve been working with artist clients on their newsletters, and one of my clients, Katherine Green, a painter in Sonoma, has reading a lot of Joseph Albers (the artist and teacher of color theory) recently, and thought it would be interesting to see how her paintings worked against different colored backgrounds. This is especially helpful for interior designers who want to create a specific feeling in a room. Although Katherine's Pink series is bold and bright, it can also seem calm and peaceful against a blue or violet background. It can feel regal and powerful against a red or rust wall. We invite you to take a look at the video I created and then comment to let us know what you think. Have you experimented with different wall colors to highlight a piece of art? Or, have you even designed a whole room around a piece of art? Katherine and I would love to hear about it! If you don’t have a chance to watch the video, you can still read what I talk about here, in Katherine's essay: Color is Illusion Color is the complex interplay of light, perception and context and it is influenced by the colors that surround it. In the book, Interaction of Color by Josef Albers, he says, “I have never taught art, I have taught philosophy. I never have taught techniques or how to paint. All my doing was to make people see”. Our brain does not process colors in isolation, instead it compares a color to its background, which changes its hue, value or saturation. Various optical illusions demonstrate how our perception can change. Identical colors can look different based on their backgrounds. As you can see here Katherine's paintings from the Pink series on different backgrounds, which change the look and feel of each painting. Surrounding colors can alter how an object’s color appears because of a phenomenon called simultaneous contrast, where the brain perceives differences in color based on adjacent hues. For example, a gray square may look lighter on a dark background and darker on a light background. In fact, Josef Albers created an entire series of paintings called Homage to the Square, where he combined hundreds of color combinations which changed the look and feel of each color, Albers asks us to consider how colors interact and how they can change their identity based on their environment and how colors communicate with each other. Our perceptions and preferences in color are dynamic and deeply personal. This changeability can encourage artists to embrace discomfort and experimentation with different colors. Colors can evoke various emotions and meanings depending on their context, which can encourage artists to explore color beyond its surface appearance. Easy to know that diamonds are precious. Good to learn that rubies have depth. But more to see that pebbles are miraculous. Josef Albers You can read more about Katherine and her process—and see more of her work at katherinegreenefineart.com. Visit my website for more coaching and creativity at shannonborg.com.