Clever blogging... John Wright... and yellow

Living in a rural area as I do, I've little access to professional galleries, museums and the art world that I know is out there. Having lived in Philadelphia for many years with its ready access to New York , Washington and Baltimore, I hunger for ART. When I discovered the world of the blogging artist, I realized here was an ever changing gallery with hundreds of artist's works that I could visit any time in order to satisfy my longing for art - and the comradeship of other artists. I follow - and subscribe to posts of many and I am constantly inspired, enchanted and challenged by the work, the writings, and the creative ideas I discover there.
A couple of weeks ago, I saw this post at John Wright's blog "John Wright Art". I was originally drawn to John's blog for a curious reason: I've never cared much for yellow. I read that back - and it sounds absurd. How can an artist dislike a color? The truth of the matter is that I've spent too much time in too-yellow rooms! When I was growing up, yellow was THE color for kitchens. The particular yellow was so often "lemon" - a rather cool and pale imitation of sun and butter and Black-eyed Susan petals. As a child, I never had enough sleep, therefore I spent too many crabby mornings in a yellow kitchen. Perhaps I need therapy... just give me a green room (heh). I find flat pale yellow without the balance of other accents to be very off-putting, to say the least.
Shown above is John Wright's watercolor: "Outside the Pavilion"

When I saw the header image for John's blog, I was struck by the yellows. Sunny, warm, luscious hues of ochre and cadmium and gold - and yes - even lemony yellows. So fitting for the sun-washed beaches he paints. Lovely. And John is giving one away! He's offering the original watercolor shown here to any one of us who shamelessly seeks to have it. There are a few "rules" and one needs to be lucky as well (prolly leaves me out...) ;~( But it's great fun to participate and I'm happy to share John's work.

I recently read a quote about the dangers of yellow in the hands of "amateurs." I wish I could find it, as it's so apropos, but I did find these:

I was for years in the yellow period, you know. - Joseph Albers
Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun. - Pablo Picasso
"What a horrible thing yellow is." --Edgar Degas

This little guy is from my own "yellow period."

While searching for that quotation, I came upon: Color, Meaning, Symbolism and Psychology - a site where one can take a "Color Personality Test" (as if we didn't already know if we had a sunny disposition or a tendency to blue periods...) But I did find this quote to my liking:



"Yellow shines with optimism, enlightenment, and happiness. Shades of golden yellow carry the promise of a positive future. Yellow will advance from surrounding colors and instill optimism and energy as well as spark creative thoughts."

And a quote from me: I'm liking yellow better these days.


Here are a few more of my yellows...