Abstracting Colours

I love that when I work in these abstract colour photographs I have learnt to let go of true colour. Not that there really can be true colours as we all see colours differently. Not that I have my head around that yet. If we all agree on beautiful colour pallets surely we see them similarly. More study required.

I used to love painting with ultramarine and cadmium red in my watercolours as the purple they created were just stunning. I’d leave some of the raw colours. And when they mixed on the paper they often seperated. You’d still see the raw blue and red when you got really close. When you stepped back you’d get the purple with lovely variation through it all.

That is what I am playing with here. Keeping some of that blue and those beautiful purples under that cloud.

The lesson here for me is to give myself permission to play with the colours and see what I can find in the photograph and modify rather than sticking with my memories.

By doing this I can finally love my colour work again. I am getting some of these printed in modern high gloss metallic prints behind glass. The purple one from the other day can hang above my bed as a 1.2 x 0.8 meter print until my colour show at Broadway in November. I can’t wait to see them printed.

Zeneth Beach views. Port Stephens. Photograph and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2020