Class 7— September 16— Emotion of Color

Class 7— September 16— Emotion of Color

We’ll discuss the link between color and emotion and how it affects the overall mood of a painting. Please bring samples of other artist’s paintings that you feel express a particular feeling or emotion well. Also find a photo that you would like to paint and identify the emotional link you want to achieve (i.e. photo of empty field: loneliness.)

Hi gang,

Mood is an interesting topic, one that’s intimately linked to color (although not exclusively so.) Compare these two versions of my painting, which I have simply tweaked in Photoshop:

yellow theme

blue theme

What feeling does the yellow one express? The blue one? What's the difference in the emotion you feel? Does one seem more emotive and powerful than the other? Does one seem right and the other wrong? Why? That’s the emotive power of color. Of course, portraits give us an immediate link to a feeling to begin with, since faces are the seat of these expressions, and my painting is strongly emotive, but what about a landscape, still life, floral or animal painting? Any of these subjects can be painted using a strong color link that can enhance the feeling you want to express.

I want to spend some time looking at work to help us see the emotional link to color. Bring examples of other artist's paintings you think show a particular feeling well using a strong link to color. Think about the deep feelings a painting can express, not predicated on the subject matter but via the colors used. Try to find various subject matter--not just faces. 

I’m going to give you a color test to see how you personally interpret certain links to color, and see if there's a general overlap. Bring your sketch book with you.

Find a photograph that you plan to use for your painting and decide what emotional link you want to create. I used the example of the empty field expressing loneliness. What feelings do you think these photos might express?

Photo: Matt Taylor

We’ll discuss as a group what feeling it gives and how you might best express via color the emotion of the photograph you bring to use for your painting. At the end of class we’ll do a walk-around to see how the painting is going for each of us. 

Please also bring with you the paintings done last week in our Memory Painting class, as well as the photo  you used. 

See you on Thursday,

Deborah