“Beauty is everywhere” was the title of an exhibition dedicated to Fernand Léger (1881-1955) at BOZAR. He wrote: “there is no such thing as catalogued, hierarchical beauty”. This is what allows us to call “beauty” what we feel as such. What freedom in the face of those who prescribe us what to admire!
Every trip is an opportunity to immerse yourself in a colorful universe. Some places have a very strong graphic or chromatic identity: Jodhpur in India is blue, Burano near Venice is flashy, Toulouse is pink. For designer Anne Élisabeth, Paris is grey and white-chalk; London is steel and grey blue; Lisbon is ocher.
Would knowing the color of the place change life? Probably not, but to look for it, to feel it, to qualify it, probably.
In my travels I look for beauty. I find it in nature, landscapes, the city, light.
Who better captures the essence of beauty than artists, whether they are local or not? From then on, my travels always take me to an Art Museum, an exhibition or a gallery. With a sketchbook, a camera or more recently a telephone or a graphic tablet, I soak up the atmosphere and note my impressions,… or those of others. For a long time I have collected these images in an annual pocket calendar. During various meetings, they were the starting point for an exchange.
This article is an invitation to travel in order to nourish one’s imagination, vary one’s palette and confront one’s vision with those of others.
Before going into my travels, let’s see how travel has been essential for some great painters.
This 36 pages booklet edited by Royal Talens, very practical, gives the rudiments of color theory and explains how to use them in painting. The book is divided into 4 chapters: (I) the formation of color, (II) the color properties, (III) the mixing of colors, and (IV) the use of color in painting. The illustrations, simple and numerous, are very educational. The booklet is partially available in English here and in several languages there.
Please find below a detailed summary followed by my own opinion. Note that I do not have any financial interest in promoting this guide.
Read More »The Color of Royal TalensAre you teaching colors?
Would you be interested in participating in a series of articles on “teaching color” that will appear regularly on this blog which is an adaptation of the French blog: https://www.vincianelacroix.net/ ?
The purpose of this series is to show the variety of teachings of color, whether academic or non-academic, and the number of fields of application of this subject.
The very existence of such a series thus gives each author a visibility for the general public, in a collective framework; it allows him to express his difference, his pedagogy and the points he finds essential in his context.
Read More »Call for participationIn most French bookstores, the books of Michel Pastoureau take most of the shelf dedicated to colors. The publication of the book “Color Never Comes… Read More »Letter to Michel Pastoureau
Propose and illustrate 21 exercises to develop a sense of color and harmony through practice.
Read More »A challenge: 21 color exercises
Artist, stylist, woman entrepreneur, Anne Élisabeth plays with shades, fabrics and challenges, for her pleasure and ours.
Read More »Anne Elisabeth, color to open the heart