If a Tree falls in the Forest...

If a Tree falls in the forest and no one sees it, is it Hunter green, Phthalo green, or Chartreuse?

As artists we have broadened our color vocabulary to include hundreds of words over time. If you paint with us regularly, you may have had a moment of realization that everyone has different associations with words for color…Perhaps when you hear your friend is calling what looks orange to you “red”. This is partly vocabulary, partly that our eyes see color slightly differently.

Many believe that Vincent van Gogh himself was a Tetrachromat…A what? A Tetrachromat, is a person who sees four independent channels for conveying color while everyone else has only three. These folks can see greater difference between color, but make up only 2% of the population.

Most of us aren’t lucky enough to be in this category, or perhaps have an artist’s expanded color vocabulary just yet. The good news is, we offer beginner classes in Van Gogh’s style, that will leave you feeling like an expert!

Our instructor Audrey, explains how she makes it easier for newbies, “I associate everything with food, and imagery of things everyone can relate to. For example I’ll describe yellow as “American cheese” pale yellow as “off brand margarine” and a pale blue as “gender reveal blue” I love when people laugh and have that “aha” moment of mixing the right color.