Saturday, February 6, 2010

I will not fear pink paint

Ive been eying a bag of new paints I've pruchased with cautious fascination and maybe a little bit of suspicion.
I'm continuing to challenge myself as an artist. Two days ago, I bought a jar of permanent rose acrylic paint on clearance. For those not familar, it's pink.
I have determined that I need to push myself by using more than the nine colors I have relied on for over a decade (alizarin crimson, cadmium yellow, titanium white, ultramarine blue, vandyke brown, sap green, burnt sienna, naples yellow,and cadmium red)
So i've been collecting colors that I've rejected becuase I assocaite them with decorative art: purple, cadmium orange, magenta, pthylo green...and finally, rose.
I was recently inspired by a young college grad who created art during and after her trip to India in response to her experience. Reflecting the very busy and colrful environment she found herself in, her paintings are full of bright colrs and much purple, pink, and orange. Which reminded me about a comment made by an Indian woman who was employed to make home decor and clothing by a fair trade business: "Why don't we do brighter colors? These are so dull!"