Color Harmony a la Sharon
 

"If your painting has an all over color theme, everything will be harmonious. Study Japanese and Chinese art for color ideas, the Europeans of the 19th century did. Degas did some wonderful bathtub scenes that were radiant."

Sharon, what I heard about your Scottsdale Artists' workshop was that you did an incredible job teaching everything - especially color. You practice what you preach. The paintings on your website exhibit the perfection of your color expertise. I truly hope you will repeat your workshop at SAS next year.

PS I will follow your advice for artists to study. Any special books that you recommend? (Can't buy them all.....)

[QUOTE=Sharon Knettell

Triciia,

I do not buy any of the art magazines for that reason. I find that they distract me, create nervousness, envy and attachment. I find inspiration in meditation, nature, certain artists of the past and especially Asian art.

Trust your judgement. I find that my inspiration often outruns my skill and knowledge.[/QUOTE]

Me too - i am always a few years ahead of myself in ideas vs. ability.
But you never know unless you try, right.?

Thank you very much for your interest & especially your comments.
I know little about the Asian art of which you speak. If you care to add some links, i would be interested in taking a look.

Tricia,

The Sackler and Freer Gallery in Washington DC has a wonderful collection of Asian art. I used many of their pieces in a Power Point demonstration I did in Scottsdale last March. http://www.asia.si.edu/

Click on collections, then click on Japanese and Chinese art. They take my breath away like they did the French in the 19th century.

Your museums in Australia (my husband has been there twice, alas not me) are loaded with Asian Art. Also, I have found second hand bookstores are a treasure trove of those zillion dollar coffee table books on art, at a much friendlier price. I got some beauties on Asian art that way.

Carol,

Oh yippee, they asked me to return. I will be there in February when everything here is grey and cold.

Follow the link above, You can create a web museum of your own on the site.

The only decent book I found on color theory, through the ages up to the present is Arthur Pope's book "The Language of Drawing and Painting". It is an out of print book, but it still can be found online. He was an art professor at Harvard when a lot of the new color theories, like Munsell were being tossed around. That combined with his extensive knowledge of every form of art makes this a worthwhile book to read.

The Sackler also has great books to buy from their collections.

Thanks Sharon , i took a peek at your links. :)

I live far from the National Galleries here in Oz. But every now & then i get to go to the big city & so will check out the Asian works.!