Because, Color

"Because," 5 x 7 watercolor, 140 Lb. fabriano Artistico rough press paper

The answer?

"Because, that's why." You've heard that as a child from your parents. Sometimes simple answers are the best, and you learned to accept them.

In our complicated world, there seem to be no simple answers, and that's normal. Very little in our lives is an either/or situation. Those who think  so become fanatics and extremists, as we can see repeatedly these days. 

But there is an honesty in a direct answer, not mincing words, or evading direct answers as politicians do when a simple "Yes" or "No" would do.

One of today's watercolors, in response to the previous one, "Why Not." 

Because. Color can speak directly. 

Why not?

"Why not?" 5 x 7 watercolor, 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico rough press

 Healing. 

Good medicine.

Vibrant color in  drab times, life and world.

"In the beginning God(s) created color." "In Him was the color of the world."

Why not? After all, what is light but colors. No light, no color. 

The more color, the more creativity, the closer to the creators of color.

Healing. Good medicine.

Why not?

Today's 5 x 7 watercolor.

"The colors of cold"

"Northern Lights," 5 x 7 watercolor holiday greeting card

I've only seen the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis perhaps twice in my life, but what I remember is how cold it was outside, and how eerie they were.

Some artists are really good at capturing their essence, and I'm not one of them, but I know about the colors of cold.

Today's watercolor, and of course, a barn, upper Midwest on a cold, snowy, clear night. 

After the storm

"After the storm," 5 x 7 watercolor holiday greeting card

Colors seems brighter, almost glow,  when they follow the darkness and danger of a storm.

"The light shines in the darkness," to quote the Apostle John, forever true since God created colors in the Beginning.

We've been through, are still enduring, plenty of storms this year in addition to nature's storms--pandemics of disease, racism, violence, intolerance, and political sickness and turmoil.

But that is also why the beauty of nature, the kindness and goodness of most unselfish people shine so much. Color, shining, after the storms.

Thus today's watercolor, evening sun on an adobe, after a snow storm. 

We all need more color in our lives these days.

Colorful medicine for a gloomy pandemic

"October medicine," 5 x 7 watercolor card

It's a a gloomy day, in a gloomy year. Today's cold seems to seep in, mirroring a year and a season  of disease, violent racism and the politics of intolerance.

My mood, our mood, our spirits, our mental health, need more than a medical vaccine. So while this late October day is gloomy, I'm so thankful for what October does best. 

Brilliant foliage brings  color and brightness into the world, at least in the upper northern latitudes. It's no wonder the month is a favorite, of scenery, of memories, of fun.

So today's watercolor greeting card is just that, a vaccine for my moping mood. 

Let there be color

 

"Let there be color," 5 x 7 watercolor holiday card

We need light more than ever, especially as the country suffers a year, a season of darkness of pandemic, racism, political chaos--and the physical season of darkness  approaches.

It dawned on me this year--no pun intended--as I continue to try to learn watercolors, that the command "Let there be light" in Genesis can be translated, "Let there be color." No light, no life...yes. But no light, no color either.

So as I begin my tradition of painting holiday cards, seeking originality in ideas, subjects and techniques, I'm experimenting more with color. What makes watercolor really sing, and what I struggle with, is its transparency, letting light through. Mine are too often too dark and opaque. 

Winter may be a season of darkness, but there is abundant color there too if you look, and there is abundant color in our world and in people despite the darkness of pandemics and more.

One of the examples I know would be the "Northern Lights," Aurora Borealis, that I've only seen once or twice when we lived in Iowa, but they inspired me today in these seasons of darkness, even though we're too far south to see them.

Today's watercolor may have too much darkness, but the light of colors helps rescue the efford.

Alone in distress, and calm

"Alone, and calm," 5 x 7 watercolor, 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press paper

 Facing threats to his life three thousand years ago, a poet wrote, 
"Turn to me and have mercy, for I am alone and in deep distress."
 -David, Psalm 15:15

Alone.
In many ways in this pandemic, we are all alone, and in deep distress.
You can hear it in the noise of public announcements, in the anger and unsocial comments on so-called "social media," in the continuing barrage of more and more bad news.
Self-quarantined. Cooped up. Losing money. Out of work. Homeless. All this and more is piled on to the other anxieties that we have to deal with on a regular basis.
We are infected with distress, with worry, as our perceived securities seem so frail. 
In such times humanity has traditionally turned beyond the physical world for reassurance, for comfort. The great spiritual leaders throughout our history, including those today, have emphasized that out of hard times and trial, both individually and culturally, are necessary to eventually give birth to greatness and calmness.
Every crisis brings out not just the worst, but also the best of this species of ours.
You can see it in help and tenderness offered on social media. You can see in as families come closer together.
You can see it if you look around you and listen to nature, and other species continuing to live.
I'd noticed more and more Robin song in our back yard recently. Then yesterday, Susan spotted a Robin's nest tucked under our eave on a downspout, with a mother Robin perched in it.
Alone. Tending to life. Carrying on.
There is beauty here, and hope and security in reaffirmation of life.
Thus today's first watercolor.

Somewhere...bluebirds

"Over the rainbow," 5 x 7 watercolor, 140 lb Fabriano Artistico cold press paper

"Wish  we'd see more bluebirds," said my wife Susan today, on a blustery, cold, sometimes gray day.
To me, they're symbols of freedom, of the beauty of creation, lifting spirits...especially needed in these unhealthy, uncertain days.
 You can count on bluebirds.
Glimpses of color, swiftly fluttering amid  the trees and yards...
That's all you get sometimes, but how the colors stand out amid the gray of the days  in these troubled times.
How we need to be reminded of the colors, of  life...
Got me to thinking of a famous song, and thus a splash of watercolor today.

"Somewhere over the rainbow 
Bluebirds fly..."

"And let there be color..."

"Color," 5 x 7" watercolor, 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press paper

It's a gray, gloomy day in more ways than one.
Our state, nation and world reels from a pandemic, with news and alarm worse every day. Uncertainty pervades everyday life, from food shortages to medical crises and a looming economic depression that will harm ordinary citizens dependent on working income.
Even spring is uncertain, The sun refuses to shine as clouds crowd the skies and temperatures drop from shirtsleeve weather to "bundle-up-and-turn-on-the-furnace-again days
What the world needs now is more than "love," in the words of the song.
The world needs color, and that's what prompted today's watercolor.
Color is  a reconnection with creation. Consider, my translation of Genesis 1: 3. "Let there be color. and there was color." No light, no life. But life is color.
So here is some color to cheer you up.

From Gloom to Glory

"When color matters," 5 x 7 card

Short days, Cloudy skies. Dying embers of another year. Time to dwell on the passing of time and years and memories. Thoughts and regrets of hopes and dreams and opportunities missed or unfulfilled.  Post-holiday melancholy.
But then there is color, more vibrant, more glorious in contrast to the gloom. Colors, the exclamation points of light, source of life, of living--they burst with excitement, they call attention to what is not mundane or ordinary, they inspire hope for today, the next dawn, the next adventures and memories.
Witness the many comments and photos on recent sunsets in Oklahoma. 

"If winter comes, can spring be far behind?"

--Shelley, Ode to the West Wind 

Christmas Eve sunset, Oklahoma City

Color, and peace in a season of gloom

Color in a gloomy season, 5 x 7 watercolor card

As the days grow shorter, the nights longer, and the solstice nears, instead of a season of peace, gloom grows in December. 
 It can be a gloomy season  from gray days, from worsening weather, from "cabin fever," or worse, from events in our lives, from stress and clamor of the holidays, from personal interactions or tragedies, or from the negative forces in our world.

But then I force myself to remember, if it weren't for such times, color would lose its importance and power. In painting, or perhaps in all art and life and religion, contrasts bring life to the world. 

The idea, the existence of Christmas in religion, proves that, with the emergence of hope in a cold world, leading to a cruel death, resulting in life and peace--a far cry from the pollution of today's commercialized religion and season--more gloom needing to be offset by color, by life.
We need to remember the overlooked words from Genesis when Yahweh said, "Let there be light." Consider, light is the source of life--and color.  

Thus today's watercolor card...by and for myself, in  world far from peaceful, full of fear mongers in the name of religion--Pay attention to color more powerful and important, bringing peace instead of gloom

"My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your hear be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

--John 14:27.

The color of magic

"Magic," 5 1/2" x 8 1/2' watercolor

What color is magic?
Perhaps it would be on a sandy beach in the South Pacific, at the end of the day, a cool evening breeze, and the colors of paradise...without crowds, phones, noise...only with your thoughts, the beauty of the day, savoring the moments with a loved one.
Today's World Watercolor Month daily challenge prompt, "Beach fun," 140 lb. d'Arches cold press paper.

Color in action

"Verb," 5 by 7 #watercolor, 140 lb. Fabriano Artistico cold press paper

Perhaps the most moving force in creation and the universe is the verb. Consider this Spanish translation of John 1:1, more accurate than the English, but you have to know your theology to fully comprende:
"En El Principio, era El Verbo, y El Verbo...."
On a gray rainy day, color stands out, the product of light, of light. Thus yesterday's unicorn, full of color and action and creation.

"And God created...Color!"--Creation!

"Creation," 8 x 10, 140 lb. d'Arches cold press paper

"Celebration of Color," concluded the #watercolor prompts for the 31 days of July, #Worldwatercolormonth.
Color, the spectrum, light. Genesis. The Big Bang. What you see in a rainbow. No light, no life. Science, faith.
Art is creativity, a child of creation, regardless of beliefs. Do they not all merge together?
Here is what brewed in my head and heart and the primordial soup of creation, for today's #watercolor: The spectrum of color, the spectrum of light, the spectrum of life. 
Celebration, appropriate ending and beginning to 31 days of watercolor.

Magic

"Magic," watercolor birthday card, 5 x 7

There's still magic in the world, especially if you're a child.
What I love about watercolor is when magic happens  in a painting--something not expected nor planned. It reminds me, as an adult,  that in color and life and love there is still magic.
And what symbolizes magic better than a unicorn...how can you not believe in magic?

December colors

:December Colors," 8" by 10" watercolor, d'Arches 140 lb. cold pressed paper

Three  blues--Ultamarine, Prussian and Thalo. Today's larger watercolor, comes from the earlier card. Matted in white and ready to frame. Yellow tint on mat from incandescent light.

(Day 16 of 31 December paintings)

Sunset Sail, watercolor

Sunset sail, watercolor, 5 by 7, 3-- lb. d'Arches

"Use more color" is becoming my mantra the more I paint for several reasons.
Reading about J.M.W.Turner's great work, he confounded and astounded the world as he increasingly used more color, more yellow, more reds, more oranges. I'll never be on a par with his talent and genious, but from my reading and study of him, I learn.
As I tell my students, take risks, experiment, dare to fail. I need to follow my own advice. That's what today's painting, and yesterday's are about. Color in my life, and work, is inspired by the landscape, by people, by the sky, and by what happens every day. We don't live in a gray, dull world. More color.
Why not? Let's go sailing at sunset.

Day 20 of WorldWatercolorMonth

Palette--Cad Orange, Quin Scarlet,  Prurssian, Cobalt, Thalo blues, a green, raw sienna.

Hunting for color on a cloudy day at Plaza

On a whim, I went back to Oklahoma City's Plaza District on 16th street today, wanting some photos for watercolors. It was chilly and windy, and by the time I got there, light cloud cover. No sunlight, so the colors were muted. And I found lots of gray buildings too, like Saints and The Mule. But there is color there, and these have been computer enhanced on saturation. 
So?
My favorite...the green door. Remember that song, "Who's that behind the Green Door?" Of course you don't, unless you're my age. And I end this with a pink elephant, outside the white Empire pizza place. Use your imagination.

Paseo, color in the night

Paseo at Night, 5 by 8 watercolor 140# d'Arches

The Paseo Arts District in OKC is all about color, from the building exteriors, to the multiple colors of artists and art  interiors.
First Friday, last night, I saw the iconic "white" building bathed in incandescent light, and snapped a photo. 
"Use any color you want," said Frank Francese at the  watercolor workshop here last year. Vibrant Lessons
So here it is, first attempt, rough, but still the color and spirit of Paseo at night. More coming, I hope. And the photograph.