I have to admit, I've always been pretty hopeless when it comes to colour...
Maybe "hopeless" is the wrong word, but it's safe to say I've shied away from delving into the elaborate world of colour from an early age. Since I was a kid, shading had always been my thing. Give me a pencil and I could dance in the 3D journey of dark to light any day.
The problem is, when you stay in the realms of what you're comfortable with and heavily focus on developing one aspect of your work, you'll wake up one day to find your abilities are heavily lop sided. So here I am at 25 years old with 13 years and countless hours of experience in making things pop off the page... And close to ZERO in bringing the piece to life with a bit of colour.
This black and white riddled habit is something you'll see throughout a lot of my work and - don't get me wrong - I have loved and appreciated every moment of it. I've always been drawn to and tend to prefer things lacking colour, whether it's art, clothes, decor or photographs. Which would explain my affinity with the beautiful, sombre spectrum of black to white.
But now the time has come...
.
To step outside of the squishy confines of my comfort zone... To go back to square one... To go back to being a student... To go back to life as an "amateur"... To EMBRACE all colours of the spectrum!
I observe my mind wanting to find shortcuts, to jump 10 steps ahead. To think of ways it can get the quickest results possible.
The only problem with doing something so avidly for 13 years is, when you go back to square one, you're fully aware of the long and elaborate journey you have waiting ahead of you. So naturally, my mind consistently bothers me with questions like this...
"Where. Do. I. Start?!"
.
And, as always, LAO TZU TO THE RESCUE! When I remember the classic quote I have hanging in my studio back in England...
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"
.
I take a deep breath... Relax... Let go of the worries and allow another one of his much needed bits of advice to come through...
"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished"
.
Which begs the question - why is this something my mind wants me to hurry?
And in this moment, it clicks...
In this moment, I decide I'm going to treat this journey in getting to know colour like a great love affair. A great love affair I want to savour every moment of, with each of the different stages of our relationship having their own gorgeous aspects to enjoy. From the excitement and mystery of a first date, right the way through to the deepest depths of knowing and loving in our old age. Why jump to the 50 year anniversary without revelling in all of the beautiful moments in between?!
Which brings us to this moment...
Here I am now, finding myself wanting to flirt with the idea.
I want colour to know I'm interested...
but I don't want be too forward.
I look to a friend, a wingman, that knows colour well
Very well.
An old friend that can put in a good word,
make an introduction and bridge the gap between my work and hers.
The original creative expression, the original source of colour inspiration...
Because nobody does it better
than nature.
And so, the "Nature Colour Palettes" series is born
Where I plan on fully surrendering to the master in showing me how its done.
For now, I plan on savouring every moment of this flirting stage, combining more of my work with nature's beautiful colour palettes... Until I pick up a paintbrush and unite with colour directly for our first date.
But until then, I'm in no rush... :-)
