local color

I’m recently back from a plein air festival in Prague where it was a real challenge finding the right colors for my paintings. There are terracotta roofs, copper domes, heavy browns, ochres, rose, peach, and lime. Baroque architecture lining the streets is a wash of pastels, frosted with swirls and arabesques like a wedding cake. Dark spires stab the sky. Contorted statues of heroes and martyrs loom from rooftops and bridges. And towering over everything are the ancient sentinels of the city gates, imposing and gritty. Architectural styles jostle and argue, eras mix and mingle, everything seems to be dancing to different tunes. I find the language impenetrable, the stories are a mystery, and most of all the colors are foreign to me. But somehow it works. This city’s visual landscape is complex but there is a harmony here, I just can’t hear its rhythms yet.

So what color is Prague? What colors do I have in my palette that will work here? I’m a little desperate after absolutely botching a few paintings because my French palette doesn’t sing here. And yes, cities do have particular color palettes, like regional accents. I’m not just talking about the local color of objects. If I try to match the color of each building, I’ll end up with a chocolate box of chaos. What I’m searching for is an overall palette that is a unique combination of harmonies.

noun: local color

1. (fine art)

the natural color of a particular object as it appears in normal light.

Light and color are endlessly fascinating. As painters this is the air we breathe. What color is an olive tree? What color is the Seine? What color is the Charles Bridge? To a painter there’s no one answer because these questions lack context, and everything depends on context. What time of day are you painting? What’s the season? What’s the weather like? What’s my angle of view? What’s in the background? Asking what color something is becomes meaningless, we might as well ask: what color is an orange in the dark?

Besides, I’m not interested in painting the surface of things. Local color is a trap, a distraction that masks the true character of a place. I’ll leave reportage to others. I want to paint the music that’s whispering beneath the surface. I want to paint the subtext.

noun: local color

2.

The customs, manner of speech, dress, or other typical features of a place or period that contribute to its particular character.

I know the palette of Paris - Cobalt sky, a touch of Raw Sienna, shadows of Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna, and Quinacridone Red. These pigments form a major chord that rings with the majesty of Paris. Italy is different. The Mediterranean light there is more direct and earthy. Shadows favor Indian Red and Cerulean Blue, a minor chord that’s closer to the soil and texture of the land.

Everyone talks about the light of Paris, or the unique light of Provence. But everywhere we go has unique light. Local light is the visual equivalent of a micro-climate. And there are countless factors that create these visual micro-climates.

Here’s a short (and utterly incomplete) list of factors that affect the color palette of any given place:

latitude • elevation • geography • weather patterns • prevailing winds • pollution • architectural styles • the color and type of building materials • city layout - are streets on a “New World grid” (post automobile) or a more organic jumble of angles? • the width of streets • the height of buildings • the presence of a river, canals, sea, or ocean near by? • what’s the surrounding countryside like? • are there mountains, farmland, forests…? • what color are the cars, taxis, buses, trams, statues? • types of trees • styles of signage • local fashion…

I also include cultural and political history. What joys, triumphs, and horrors has this place witnessed? What ghosts walk these streets? What does a place sound like? Are the birds singing? What does it feel like here?

To approach the colors of Prague perhaps I need to listen to Dvořák, or brush up on Kafka.

When painting, it’s not what we see that’s important, it’s what we perceive. Paintings aren’t an accurate depiction of reality, we have cameras for that. I believe paintings are closer to our perception of reality. They’re an expression of everything we see before us, filtered through our individual minds. Physics, biology, and psychology dance together to form what we perceive.

Our painting is the expression of this dance.

In the blink of an eye, light experiences an epic journey of transformation. From the physical environment with all its local colors, light particles reflect, refract, bounce and react before interacting with our personal biology. Photo receptors in our eyes transmit electrical signals to our brain, and our unique memories, associations, and emotions interpret those signals. So what began as light now swims into our consciousness as a perception, utterly transformed.

Drifting off to sleep after the plein air festival has wound down, I still have colors dancing in my head. I’m almost able to grasp the mixtures, like a song playing in the next room that I can’t make out, or a dream half remembered. The music of this city remains elusive, tantalizingly out of reach. A poet friend describes the colors here as wine and plumb. That’s a good start, the beginning of a tune. I clearly need more time in Prague, wandering its streets, listening for its whispered harmonies, searching for its local color.

If you’re interested in going further and deepening your watercolor practice (or if you’d just like to support what I’m doing) I invite you to my Patreon Page. There you’ll get a peek behind the scenes of my studio and my process, members-only live demos, and other exclusive goodies!

Thank you for being a part of this artistic community! I’m so glad you’re here!

Cheers from Paris,

Alex

AlexHillkurtzArt.com

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