module 3

1) Color is caused by how light is reflected and absorbed by the object. Certain colors make us feel a different way, as does colors that are put together. For instance intense red is usually danger because it coincides with fire or blood, yet if you darken it slightly it is a color used to express love and affection, like a rose color. The same with blue, a light blue is relaxing like the summer sky but you darken it and it becomes a more ‘sad’ color because it matches colors like black, which we match to depressed feelings. Black is used to tell about hopelessness where yellow is often used to show hope and happiness.

2) The theoretical aspect of color that intrigues me most is the color harmonies, and how the mixing of certain colors cause certain feelings. For instance a person can paint the happiest scene in the world, but if it is done in cool colors it is immediately assumed that it is a sad scene, because of how the colors flow together to make us feel. Not only how colors make you feel, but how certain colors can bring out the most intense colors. Such as how blue and orange make each other look best because they are complementary colors.

3) In the color video how the artist painting changed made the biggest impact. When she started I agreed with her when she said that it looked violent and angry. I think this was due to her using such dark blues and vibrant reds. And then the finished product was softer, gentler and I believe this was due to how she used lighter colors instead of the stark shades and white whites. By blending them to a softer shade it gave it the gentler more appealing look she wanted.

4) The thing that made the most impact was when he explained how the Marat image was sad. I compared it to images such as the “The Crucifixion” by Carl Heinrich Bloch, which shows the death of Christ, although he is dead there is a yellow aura around him symbolizing the light and the hope of his resurrection, just as the narrator said. Where in contrast “The Death of Marat” by David, although there are similarities in how Marat is composed he is surrounded by darkness symbolizing the end and that his light has been extinguished.  Bloch’s invokes a feeling of hope and redemption, where David’s is mournful and foreboding. Both these emotions are caused by the colors the artist used and I did not realize how a death picture could be so hopeful until I compared the two.