Colour! Learning to see again!

Ok, so last term I learnt loads about shape and form. This term I intend to learn alot about colour and light. I did a colour-study of a self portrait by Benjamin Sullivan in order to look at what colours to use on the face and what subtle colours are shown around each area of the face. I took alot of time before I started just trying to find the correct colours on the colour pallette in photoshop. I DID NOT colour pick at all OR use any overlay layers once I had finished. I want to stop depending on fancy effects in photoshop and simply learn to see the colours and light correctly.



I did however do this from a photograph which is bad but I intend to take what I have learnt and draw another portrait of a friend from life. I didnt cheat in any way making this picture though. I drew it as if it were in front of me, no tracing or overlaying. Still, it could be better and I will keep trying to improve!

Doing this study followed a really good conversation with my tutor about how we see colour and light. I was struggling making up an environment and getting the feeling right. I wanted a feeling of temperature and moisture that I couldn't quite convey. It looked like it was dull and grey. My tutor took a look at it and then got me to look out of the window at the sky. We saw purples, oranges, pinks and many other colours that at a glance would just be grey. The way in which these colours in the sky affected the environment was very important. Distant buildings that were made of concrete made me immediately assume that they were grey. However, on further inspection, they actually looked pink! This was due to the light of the sky changing the way my eye was seeing it. My brain was filtering this out and just saying it was grey.

This is the painting I produced following this talk. Throughout I was battling my brains natural tendency to simplify colour and materials into catergories. Time to break free and see things the way they really are!!