On the Absence of Color

My White Bedroom Wall

I thought a good follow-up to my chaotic desk would be this image. The absence of color is often soothing to me and brings a fresh start to my palette. Silence is such an important tool in processing and listening to information. I think in the art world the equivalent is the colorless plane. The stretched white canvas or the fresh sheet of sketchbook paper ready to be marked. I guess it doesn't hurt that I have a fourteen year old white dog within whom I can see the universe.

There is also a weird relationship between a colorless environment and why so many of us love hotel rooms - something about the neutral space. My studio however is an over stimulating eye-popping hot-pink, lime, eggplant purple space that can only generate madness (which I of course associate with my particular brand of creativity). My bedroom on the other hand, needs to function as a space to foster meditation and peacefulness - hence whites and beige. Some of my art students unknowingly get caught up in this same 'to color or not to color' question and ask, "do we HAVE to add color? Color is going to ruin it!!" Then there is the other group of students who say "Are we going to get to add color to these, because the value-only drawings aren't as fun." Interesting isn't it? Learning to quiet our minds from all the visual noise is a challenge.

Now a moment in defense of a color. Buy the book Color by Victoria Finlay and discover an amazing history and origin of every major color we engage with as creatives.