We're taught growing up (or at least we are in the USA - maybe we're the only idiots) that red, yellow and blue are the primary colors - that all secondary and tertiary colors can be mixed from them. We're shown a color wheel, which lays out how everything interacts, and all the colors seem to be there.
Everything seemed in order until one morning a month or two ago, I woke up and wanted to paint a piece with the scheme black, yellow and magenta. I dug around in my box of paints, which is short on fancy colors but has plenty of red, yellow, blue, black and white. I mixed and mixed and mixed and... well, magenta never materialized.
Granted, light and pigment primaries are a yin and yang, but I never gave any real thought to print primaries when painting - inkjet printers and all other four-pass process systems (magazines, product packaging, etc.) use magenta, yellow, cyan and black ink to create all other output colours.
Primary colors, by definition, 1) cannot be mixed from any other colors and 2) can be mixed to create all other colors. Magenta is a pure hue which must be bought, and can then be mixed with yellow to create red. Cyan is a pure hue which can be mixed with magenta to create "primary" blue.
What I'm driving at here is obvious, and I want to know if I'm going crazy or if I just overlooked something that's old news to everyone else. I'm in my twenties and I've only once heard someone else agree that magenta, rather than red, is the primary. As a lifelong artist who is continually experimenting at home and has taken (paid a lot for) a brazillian art classes (including color theory more than once), the notion that red is not a primary color drops the bottom out of my understanding of color like a soggy cardboard box. So much for the Holy Trinity.
This is probably obvious to anyone in the professional printing business, but it should be just as obvious to someone working solely in pigments. If I'm not going crazy here, then I think the red-yellow-blue dogma is a serious misinformation. Color forms the foundation for so many other disciplines and we're so conclusively taught to start at red, yellow and blue. I don't want more aspiring artists growing up thinking that, too.
I don't sense I'm going to get very far with this crusade. Maybe I'll just jump back on the grammar-nazi horse.
25 November 2007
22 November 2007
ode to a holiday season which thusfar seemed pretty bleak.
When the best part of your life no longer wants to be yours, it's time to take stock of what you have to live for. The holidays have always meant family (read family and friends who are like family) to me, but this year, single and with family and friends sparser than ever, I've had to stare down the real meaning of Thanksgiving: the giving thanks part.
I am thankful to have been born with all five of my senses, able-bodied and (so far as I can tell) able-minded. I am thankful for all ten of my fingers and everything they can and ever will do for me. I am thankful to have been born in a place where electricity, hot water, internet access, and all manner of mundane luxuries are the norm. I am thankful to have been born in California, where Reno, Vegas, San Francisco, Hawaii and LA are just a jump away. I am still privileged, even if I'm not proud, to be an American. I am thankful for the people brave enough to fight our wars, regardless of my acute misgivings about the wars. I am thankful to have two jobs I love, which is two more than I had last year at this time. I am thankful to have college available to me, even if I'm waffling and unable to take it on right now.
I am thankful for the way conflict and sheer time have sloughed off insincere and fickle friends. A man is like a stone in a stream, and when the tide runs high and the waters run harsh and cold, there are very few people who won't wash away with it. I am thankful for the gems who still remain after the storm. I think you know who you are. I am thankful for a best friend who remains closer than ever after thirteen years of growing up. I am thankful for the time I had with Sean, though what I'll take away from it in the long run remains to be seen. I am thankful for my mom, who is one of maybe only two people on this earth who loves me truly unconditionally (read: for exactlywho I am, nurturing my strengths and forgiving me my flaws), and I'm grateful that I'm at least wise enough to know how valuable that is. I am thankful that she has been such a good role model. I am thankful for all the time my grandparents, who are dead now, spent raising me, and I regret that the reality of their deaths did not set in until after the fact. I am thankful for my dad and his parents, who, despite 20 years of separation, have never forgotten me. I am thankful for the Harrises, who are everywhere in my life now and treat me like family even though the last thing they need is more people in their family (haha), and for the Faifereks, who have saved my butt plenty of times when I was in a bind or just needed a semi-surrogate family, and always treat me like family, no matter how seldom I visit. I am thankful that I have thus far never been homeless, starving, truly alone, or had to weather the death of someone I couldn't live without. Heartbreak has slapped me upside the head more times than I care to think about, but real tragedy has never touched me, and I'm grateful.
I am thankful that I have learned hard lessons already, that I have reached into many of the farthest corners of man's emotional gamut, and regained equilibrium. I am thankful that, despite not believing in god, fate, or the afterlife, I find meaning and purpose in every day of my life. I am thankful that I can cook and draw and paint and write and I am thankful for all the possibilities those abilities may afford me in the future. The list goes on, and it includes small things too. I am thankful to be Irish, and plan to go home some day to drink a ton of Guinness and stand in the presence of ruined castles. I am thankful for The Simpsons, which I still love despite their shitty new episodes, and Futurama, which keeps me distracted and amused when the I can't shake the weight of the things that nag at me. I am thankful for the color orange, and for plaid, and for coffee (!) and for cats, and warm blankets and fire places and beer and pecan pie and... oh, and for Mollly, who is just a dog but still loves me unconditionally, and is probably less of a pain in the ass than a human sister.
I've sworn myself to never forgetting that my problems are relatively small in magnitude. Thank you.
I am thankful to have been born with all five of my senses, able-bodied and (so far as I can tell) able-minded. I am thankful for all ten of my fingers and everything they can and ever will do for me. I am thankful to have been born in a place where electricity, hot water, internet access, and all manner of mundane luxuries are the norm. I am thankful to have been born in California, where Reno, Vegas, San Francisco, Hawaii and LA are just a jump away. I am still privileged, even if I'm not proud, to be an American. I am thankful for the people brave enough to fight our wars, regardless of my acute misgivings about the wars. I am thankful to have two jobs I love, which is two more than I had last year at this time. I am thankful to have college available to me, even if I'm waffling and unable to take it on right now.
I am thankful for the way conflict and sheer time have sloughed off insincere and fickle friends. A man is like a stone in a stream, and when the tide runs high and the waters run harsh and cold, there are very few people who won't wash away with it. I am thankful for the gems who still remain after the storm. I think you know who you are. I am thankful for a best friend who remains closer than ever after thirteen years of growing up. I am thankful for the time I had with Sean, though what I'll take away from it in the long run remains to be seen. I am thankful for my mom, who is one of maybe only two people on this earth who loves me truly unconditionally (read: for exactlywho I am, nurturing my strengths and forgiving me my flaws), and I'm grateful that I'm at least wise enough to know how valuable that is. I am thankful that she has been such a good role model. I am thankful for all the time my grandparents, who are dead now, spent raising me, and I regret that the reality of their deaths did not set in until after the fact. I am thankful for my dad and his parents, who, despite 20 years of separation, have never forgotten me. I am thankful for the Harrises, who are everywhere in my life now and treat me like family even though the last thing they need is more people in their family (haha), and for the Faifereks, who have saved my butt plenty of times when I was in a bind or just needed a semi-surrogate family, and always treat me like family, no matter how seldom I visit. I am thankful that I have thus far never been homeless, starving, truly alone, or had to weather the death of someone I couldn't live without. Heartbreak has slapped me upside the head more times than I care to think about, but real tragedy has never touched me, and I'm grateful.
I am thankful that I have learned hard lessons already, that I have reached into many of the farthest corners of man's emotional gamut, and regained equilibrium. I am thankful that, despite not believing in god, fate, or the afterlife, I find meaning and purpose in every day of my life. I am thankful that I can cook and draw and paint and write and I am thankful for all the possibilities those abilities may afford me in the future. The list goes on, and it includes small things too. I am thankful to be Irish, and plan to go home some day to drink a ton of Guinness and stand in the presence of ruined castles. I am thankful for The Simpsons, which I still love despite their shitty new episodes, and Futurama, which keeps me distracted and amused when the I can't shake the weight of the things that nag at me. I am thankful for the color orange, and for plaid, and for coffee (!) and for cats, and warm blankets and fire places and beer and pecan pie and... oh, and for Mollly, who is just a dog but still loves me unconditionally, and is probably less of a pain in the ass than a human sister.
I've sworn myself to never forgetting that my problems are relatively small in magnitude. Thank you.
29 October 2007
innately acquired.
I'm just toeing the surface of the ocean here, but nothing inherently means anything. There exists no innate value or meaning, and nothing is any one thing until someone decides it's so. You only are if you or someone else says so, and the truth of any object or situation is predicated solely on the most vigilant faction or widely-accepted consensus of opinion about it. So the next time you decide something, remember that you're either alone in your decision, or alone with the people who agree with you, but it gets no more definitive than that.
24 August 2007
Mark Steven Ritter and COLOURLovers in Canada's Globe and Mail.
Congrats to Mark for being featured in Canada's Globe and Mail (apparently it's like our New York Times, yanks), in an article about COLOURLovers. Mark has always offered me so much sincere encouragement and so many kind words (thanks), and he's a truly gifted artist who deserves recognition.
Here's my mashup of the article, with my own palette notes, linkage, and a smattering of external links for those curious about more....
Here's my mashup of the article, with my own palette notes, linkage, and a smattering of external links for those curious about more....
Painter Mark Steven Ritter works in his apartment/studio in Montreal, Aigust 16, 2007. Mr. Ritter has used colourlovers.com to create more than 1,200 palettes.
COLOUR ME OBSESSED
At ColourLovers.com, those with a passion for pigment create hues, swap palettes and even fall in love
REBECCA DUBE
Globe and Mail Update
August 17, 2007 at 9:13 AM EDT
They argue the merits of teal versus aqua with a seriousness usually reserved for foreign policy debates.
They create colours with names such as "elle était belle" (a lily-pad green) and "deep tissue massage" (a brick red).
They have hundreds of names for beige.
They are the self-proclaimed colour addicts of ColourLovers.com, a social networking site for people who enjoy exploring and analyzing hues.
Consider it a Facebook for the pigment-obsessed.
Since its launch in December, 2004, the site has attracted more than 20,000 members from around the globe, inspired home redecorations and website designs, and spawned real-life friendships and even one marriage.
If you've ever stared blankly at a display of paint swatches and wondered where to start, or despaired at finding a colour to complement the pink bathroom fixtures in your apartment, ColourLovers may be able to help.
"Colour is a pretty mainstream thing; we see it every day, but it hasn't gotten as much mainstream attention," says site founder Darius Monsef, a Web developer in Portland, Ore.
He started the site after taking an uninspiring class on colour theory and deciding that he - or at least the collective creativity of the Web - could do better.
Mr. Monsef says the Colour Lovers, as they call themselves, range from professional designers who use the site to develop colour schemes for websites and advertising campaigns to hobbyists who get hooked on combining different colours into palettes and giving them funky names.
"We have a lot of members who are not in any sort of artistic field, but this is their creative outlet," Mr. Monsef says.
The site allows users to create colours and palettes, share them, rate and comment on others' creations, discuss burning questions such as "what is the most unusual colour?" in forums, and send "love notes" to other users.
Prolific contributors include a graphic designer from Louisiana, a 16-year-old girl from Miami, a New Brunswick framer and an Ohio teacher.
"It's an immediate gratification: You're making something from nothing, and I think that has a lot of appeal," Montreal artist Mark Steven Ritter says. He has used the site to create more than 1,200 palettes - combinations of five colours that are the main attraction on the site.
Two of his favourites are "science fiction," an eye-catching mix of bright lime greens and soft blues, and "Rodchenko," named after a leading constructivist artist in the period following the Russian revolution, featuring muted greens and reds. Each palette, Mr. Ritter says, "almost becomes an art object in itself."
He met up with several Colour Lovers on a recent trip to New York and regularly corresponds with others in Singapore, Peru, England and Japan. He tends to gravitate to those who share his taste in dark, saturated and high-contrast colours.
Recently, though, he has noticed an influx of younger colour lovers creating brighter palettes that he finds surprisingly intriguing.
That's part of the charm of the site, Mr. Ritter says: "You might really love something you never would have thought of doing." He often uses the site to test out colour combinations for his paintings.
Site users rate and comment on them. "If I get a very good reaction, I'll apply it to a painting," he says.
ColourLovers inspired Vania Sofiandi to switch her career from business to graphic design, which she is now pursuing as a freelancer in the Chicago area.
Ms. Sofiandi, who has created more than 1,300 palettes, says the site changed the way she sees the world. Colour Lovers don't just see red or get the blues - they see fire-engine red or feel deep-sea blue.
"My brain randomly pops up colours when I'm feeling strong emotions," she says. "Dark, muted grey when I am irritated, blue cyan for adventurous, pinkish purple for admiration and bright pink when I feel narcissistic."
The site's appeal lies in its community as much as its colours, Ms. Sofiandi says. Two of her friends who met on the site fell in love, moved in together and got married last month. Alas, no word on what their wedding colours were.
Mr. Monsef says he hopes to expand the colour trends section of the website, which currently includes analyses of magazine-cover colour schemes and the colours of the world's top first-class airlines. (Purples and wood tones are hot with this crowd.)
"We want to be able to say, 'Last month, this shade of blue was popular with this demographic,' " he says. "It started as a fun colour-inspiration site, but now we want to give more value to the members."
Already, Mr. Monsef says, running ColourLovers has expanded his palette: "I couldn't have told you what chartreuse was before doing the website."
+THE GLOBE AND MAIL ARTICLE
+CHECK THE COLOURLOVERS BLOG POST HERE.
+MARK STEVEN RITTER'S SITE
+DARIUS MONSEF'S SITE
At ColourLovers.com, those with a passion for pigment create hues, swap palettes and even fall in love
REBECCA DUBE
Globe and Mail Update
August 17, 2007 at 9:13 AM EDT
They argue the merits of teal versus aqua with a seriousness usually reserved for foreign policy debates.
They create colours with names such as "elle était belle" (a lily-pad green) and "deep tissue massage" (a brick red).
They have hundreds of names for beige.
They are the self-proclaimed colour addicts of ColourLovers.com, a social networking site for people who enjoy exploring and analyzing hues.
Consider it a Facebook for the pigment-obsessed.
Since its launch in December, 2004, the site has attracted more than 20,000 members from around the globe, inspired home redecorations and website designs, and spawned real-life friendships and even one marriage.
If you've ever stared blankly at a display of paint swatches and wondered where to start, or despaired at finding a colour to complement the pink bathroom fixtures in your apartment, ColourLovers may be able to help.
"Colour is a pretty mainstream thing; we see it every day, but it hasn't gotten as much mainstream attention," says site founder Darius Monsef, a Web developer in Portland, Ore.
He started the site after taking an uninspiring class on colour theory and deciding that he - or at least the collective creativity of the Web - could do better.
Mr. Monsef says the Colour Lovers, as they call themselves, range from professional designers who use the site to develop colour schemes for websites and advertising campaigns to hobbyists who get hooked on combining different colours into palettes and giving them funky names.
"We have a lot of members who are not in any sort of artistic field, but this is their creative outlet," Mr. Monsef says.
The site allows users to create colours and palettes, share them, rate and comment on others' creations, discuss burning questions such as "what is the most unusual colour?" in forums, and send "love notes" to other users.
Prolific contributors include a graphic designer from Louisiana, a 16-year-old girl from Miami, a New Brunswick framer and an Ohio teacher.
"It's an immediate gratification: You're making something from nothing, and I think that has a lot of appeal," Montreal artist Mark Steven Ritter says. He has used the site to create more than 1,200 palettes - combinations of five colours that are the main attraction on the site.
Two of his favourites are "science fiction," an eye-catching mix of bright lime greens and soft blues, and "Rodchenko," named after a leading constructivist artist in the period following the Russian revolution, featuring muted greens and reds. Each palette, Mr. Ritter says, "almost becomes an art object in itself."
He met up with several Colour Lovers on a recent trip to New York and regularly corresponds with others in Singapore, Peru, England and Japan. He tends to gravitate to those who share his taste in dark, saturated and high-contrast colours.
Recently, though, he has noticed an influx of younger colour lovers creating brighter palettes that he finds surprisingly intriguing.
That's part of the charm of the site, Mr. Ritter says: "You might really love something you never would have thought of doing." He often uses the site to test out colour combinations for his paintings.
Site users rate and comment on them. "If I get a very good reaction, I'll apply it to a painting," he says.
ColourLovers inspired Vania Sofiandi to switch her career from business to graphic design, which she is now pursuing as a freelancer in the Chicago area.
Ms. Sofiandi, who has created more than 1,300 palettes, says the site changed the way she sees the world. Colour Lovers don't just see red or get the blues - they see fire-engine red or feel deep-sea blue.
"My brain randomly pops up colours when I'm feeling strong emotions," she says. "Dark, muted grey when I am irritated, blue cyan for adventurous, pinkish purple for admiration and bright pink when I feel narcissistic."
The site's appeal lies in its community as much as its colours, Ms. Sofiandi says. Two of her friends who met on the site fell in love, moved in together and got married last month. Alas, no word on what their wedding colours were.
Mr. Monsef says he hopes to expand the colour trends section of the website, which currently includes analyses of magazine-cover colour schemes and the colours of the world's top first-class airlines. (Purples and wood tones are hot with this crowd.)
"We want to be able to say, 'Last month, this shade of blue was popular with this demographic,' " he says. "It started as a fun colour-inspiration site, but now we want to give more value to the members."
Already, Mr. Monsef says, running ColourLovers has expanded his palette: "I couldn't have told you what chartreuse was before doing the website."
+THE GLOBE AND MAIL ARTICLE
+CHECK THE COLOURLOVERS BLOG POST HERE.
+MARK STEVEN RITTER'S SITE
+DARIUS MONSEF'S SITE
16 August 2007
COLOURLovers and MOO.
Now that I got ColourLovers out of the way, it's time for what I wanted to show off yesterday.
MOO is a progressive online printing service based in England. It enables users to print notecards, "minicards" and books of miniature stickers from Flickr, Second Life, or other personal designs; they also offer a selection of products from featured designers. You guessed it: one of those designers is ColourLovers.
Darius Monsef provided MOO with 120 of 2006's top Palettes, up to 50 of which appear in each assortment of cards and stickers.
If you want the whole story, take a gander at the CL blog entry HERE.
If you want to cut to the damned chase already, check out the MOO site.
And this is all cool, and I might have bought some of these anyway, but I'm buggering to blog about it because I've noticed from the snapshots that a couple of my palettes are included in the mix:
and 
If I'm not mistaken, anyway. I don't expect CL to be buggered to divulge every one of the 120 palettes submitted to MOO, and near (far?) as I can tell without actually buying a pack, the designs you receive are random. So who knows which palettes were picked or what you'll get when you order... but I like to fall asleep at night knowing that, somewhere, someone could actually be using and enjoying the palettes I've frittered so much time building.
MOO is a progressive online printing service based in England. It enables users to print notecards, "minicards" and books of miniature stickers from Flickr, Second Life, or other personal designs; they also offer a selection of products from featured designers. You guessed it: one of those designers is ColourLovers.
Darius Monsef provided MOO with 120 of 2006's top Palettes, up to 50 of which appear in each assortment of cards and stickers.
If you want the whole story, take a gander at the CL blog entry HERE.
If you want to cut to the damned chase already, check out the MOO site.
And this is all cool, and I might have bought some of these anyway, but I'm buggering to blog about it because I've noticed from the snapshots that a couple of my palettes are included in the mix:
I think I spy
and 
If I'm not mistaken, anyway. I don't expect CL to be buggered to divulge every one of the 120 palettes submitted to MOO, and near (far?) as I can tell without actually buying a pack, the designs you receive are random. So who knows which palettes were picked or what you'll get when you order... but I like to fall asleep at night knowing that, somewhere, someone could actually be using and enjoying the palettes I've frittered so much time building.
15 August 2007
COLOURlovers.
I should have blogged about COLOURlovers a long time ago. Anyone who's interested in color, this is for you. If you know anything about color, particularly hexadecimal color, you're already home. If you don't know much about color, you'll pick up so much so fast. Either way, you create a little account and amass a collection of unique colors that you put a name to (here's a couple of my alltime faves)
and then build palettes out of your and everyone else's colors:
At this point, there are around 20,000 members, 340,000 colors, and 120,000 palettes registered. Users tag, give feedback about and rank colors and palettes (my current top five palettes run on the sidebar of this blog, actually), and monthly color trends in the media and on the net are monitored. Think Flickr, but with colors instead of photos. I'm a long-standing member at this point, and I've made some solid contacts there, and there's an influx of new membership and activity.
COLOURLovers is one of those rare things on the internet: it'll never cost you a dime, it's benign and all-inclusive in purpose, and the entire community is supportive, genial, and comprised of genuine people. Although it does have a proprietor, the illustrious Darius Monsef, being a Lover feels like being a shareholder and every user has a hand in shaping the site. Plus it supports the arts, which I'm a sucker for.
I could blather on and not do it justice. For some reason, it's always hard to explain. But have a gander; you might be snagged. More on CL to come.
My Colours
Colourlovers Home
Top Palettes sitewide
Current Media Trends
Random goodness
and then build palettes out of your and everyone else's colors:
At this point, there are around 20,000 members, 340,000 colors, and 120,000 palettes registered. Users tag, give feedback about and rank colors and palettes (my current top five palettes run on the sidebar of this blog, actually), and monthly color trends in the media and on the net are monitored. Think Flickr, but with colors instead of photos. I'm a long-standing member at this point, and I've made some solid contacts there, and there's an influx of new membership and activity.
COLOURLovers is one of those rare things on the internet: it'll never cost you a dime, it's benign and all-inclusive in purpose, and the entire community is supportive, genial, and comprised of genuine people. Although it does have a proprietor, the illustrious Darius Monsef, being a Lover feels like being a shareholder and every user has a hand in shaping the site. Plus it supports the arts, which I'm a sucker for.
I could blather on and not do it justice. For some reason, it's always hard to explain. But have a gander; you might be snagged. More on CL to come.
My Colours
Colourlovers Home
Top Palettes sitewide
Current Media Trends
Random goodness
02 August 2007
fortune
I feel really fortunate right now. Things have been pretty rocky since just before last Christmas, but it seems like patience, doing unto others, and not taking my friends for granted, as simple and square as that sounds, has done me good.
Thanks to those who just live and let live. I promise to do the same.
Thanks to those who just live and let live. I promise to do the same.
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