Is seeing colour similar to wine tasting?

 

Before we lay down any paint on paper, our brain perceives what we see. However, the brain receives incomplete information from the world through the eyes and does its best to complete that information.

A large part of painting is about learning to see - and hopefully, sharing how we see and what is visually important to us with others. Our main responsibility as artists is as interpreters. We need to be open to the adventure of exploring, visual information. If we accept that what we paint can never be “real”, then we should be able to take our “reality” and see it in new and interesting ways.

Newton observed that color is not inherent in objects. Rather, the surface of an object reflects some colors and absorbs all the others. We perceive only the reflected colors. The human eye and brain together translate light into color. Light receptors within the eye transmit messages to the brain, which produces the familiar sensations of color.

Thus, red is not "in" an apple. The surface of the apple is reflecting the wavelengths we see as red and absorbing all the rest. An object appears white when it reflects all wavelengths and black when it absorbs them all.

Learning to see and compare visual information becomes a process of growth and exploration.

Check out some of the games related to seeing on this National Geographic page: http://braingames.nationalgeographic.com/episode/1/ 

Take for example a banana. During the daytime it looks yellow. However if you look at a banana by candlelight (as if we do this all of the time ;-) ) our eyes still identify it as yellow. In each of those situations, the light illuminating the banana differs considerably. Even though a banana produces different compositions of wavelengths in different circumstances, our minds seek to determine the essence of the banana. Our yellow sensation tells us that bananas reflect a lot of yellow, even though depending on the light source, more orange or green might actually reach our eyes. This phenomenon of color constancy is complex, yet central to life.

Our responsibility as artists is to see those additional colours. Learning to see the various colours becomes a process of growth and exploration. Take shadows as examples, what colours do you see? You’d be surprised by the varieties of colours that seasoned artists see.

Seeing colours is very similar to wine tasting. Any wine connoisseur will tell you how they have refined their sense of smell and taste to identify the subtleties found in wine. For example a savory and complex Pinot Noir will have organic flavors as opposed to fruit flavors. Mushrooms, forest, earth, and smoke are some of the flavors you will typically taste and smell in an old world Pinot. Some will also taste hints of incense, sandalwood, and spice in the bouquet in some bottles. 

Some of us have honed the skill of seeing colours. Let’s take a look at a recent portrait study of Feeling Lin by our colleague Neal. Instead of going straight to skin tones, Neal built up the nuance skin tones by applying numerous washes of colours that he sees. The end result is so rich in colours and attractive. This approach illustrates the various colours that Neal sees in the skin.

 

What do you think of these National Geographic games?  Do you continue to believe that you are seeing everything? or that what you are seeing is the entire "truth"?

Have a great week!

Danielle