Sept, 14: Color and Light Chapter 1: Tradition

James Gurney shares a quote from Jean-Leon Gerome that goes, "When you draw, form is the important thing. But in painting the first thing is to look for the general impression of color."

This made me think about the difference between painting and drawing. I have not done much painting, thus I have never thought too much about what would be different between the two mediums of art. However, as  I thought about the different stages of paintings that I have seen other artists do, I can easily remember how they had much more of an impression of form through color than a specific layout of the rendering that a drawing would require.


It seems that tradition would have an artist paint outside. Unless you are painting an indoor scene, I got the feeling that Gurney was explaining how the light in a painting is only correct if painted in the same setting that is being portrayed. I like this idea and have been learning the importance of observation as I have been taking classes here at BYU. Observation informs your drawings so much more than anything else can. 


One last thing I took from this chapter was the power of a limited palate. I really like this quote by Alphonse Mucha. 
"The expression of beauty is by the emotion. 
The person who can communicate his emotions to the soul of the other is the artist."

In addition to observation I am learning more and more about the power that comes from all of the design choices that an artist has to make, and the palate that we use is one of them. The picture above is much more potent because there are only 4 or 5 colors used.





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