Colors are shifty buggers. The way we process visual information causes colors to change in relationship to what they’re next to, giving us a constant source of optical illusions. This makes mixing accurate color rather complicated. Below are a few optical quandaries to illustrate how complicated this “accurate seeing” stuff can be.
“A thing is never seen as it really is.” – Albers
These illusions are excellent illustrations of why color mixing is so danged difficult. The grey bar in the gradient is the same color across. Both the orange bars are the same color, and on the next it looks like one bar is blue and the other is green, but again, they are the same. Below are some more optical illusion reveals.
[nectar_image_comparison image_url=”3565″ image_2_url=”3575[nectar_image_comparison image_url=”3566″ image_2_url=”3576 The “blue” tiles on the left are the same color as the “yellow” tiles on the right. They are both grey. [nectar_image_comparison image_url=”3586″ image_2_url=”3587
The right eye appears to be cyan in the left image, yellow in the middle one, and red in the right one, though in each image the right eye is the same color as the left eye. Color constancy is supposed to be perfect when in each image the right eye appears to be the same color as the bead on the hair.
Color contrast using the same color combinations as the faces above. The small square in each image is the same color as the “eye” in of the face, respectively. The surround in each image is the same color as the “skin” of the face, respectively.
[image_with_animation image_url=”3579″ alignment=”” animation=”None Images from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/228490244_fig1_Fig-1-Colour-illusion-by-colour-constancy-The-right-eye-appears-to-be-cyan-in-the-left These optical tricks are happening all the time, in everything we look at. Color changes according to what it’s next to. This means everywhere there is a color, this is happening in some small or dramatic measure. It’s happening in our subject matter, on our palettes, and on our canvas. I believe this is a big part of why the seemingly simple goal of “applying color where it goes” in a painting is so danged complicated.
The most interesting thing about these puzzles is that once they’re “solved” they still fool the eye. Must be some strong mechanisms in the mind to fight the proof before us. I’m educated and experienced with color theory, but that doesn’t stop my eyes from being fooled. Because of this, I’ve changed my painting strategies from “I’m going to learn to see better” to “I’m going to have a lot of my own tricks to make sure I don’t get fooled by my own paintings.” Interested in learning more? Check out my “Colors” class. I never tire of this subject. The more I learn, the more interesting it gets.
I ran into this little collection of cake paintings posted by Anne McGurk, and felt inspired to share. Inspired would not quite be the most accurate word, as I am trying not to eat sugar. If you’ve ever tried to avoid sweet foods, you know how prevalent sugar is. Sweets didn’t seem like such a …
A strong relationship between the arts and politics, particularly between various kinds of art and power, occurs across historical epochs and cultures. As they respond to contemporaneous events and politics, the arts take on political as well as social dimensions, becoming themselves a focus of controversy and even a force of political as well as …
This proclamation didn’t stop Chuck Close, who started painting portraits in the 1960s, 10 years after Pollock’s most famous drip paintings, and still during Greenberg’s reign. “I thought, ‘Well then, that field is wide open.’ And why the fuck can’t you make a portrait anyway?” – Chuck Close An informative little video WTF The quotes …
R. B. Kitaj 1932 – 2007 Edited from https://artbios.net/5-en.html R.B. Kitaj was an American artist who championed figuration in the aftermath of expressionism. Kitaj was an influential figure in the London art scene and was intimate with Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, coining the term “London School” for this group. His art was unabashedly erudite and often accompanied …
Color Illusions
Colors are shifty buggers. The way we process visual information causes colors to change in relationship to what they’re next to, giving us a constant source of optical illusions. This makes mixing accurate color rather complicated. Below are a few optical quandaries to illustrate how complicated this “accurate seeing” stuff can be.
These illusions are excellent illustrations of why color mixing is so danged difficult. The grey bar in the gradient is the same color across. Both the orange bars are the same color, and on the next it looks like one bar is blue and the other is green, but again, they are the same. Below are some more optical illusion reveals.
More Color Illusions
[image_with_animation image_url=”3577″ alignment=”” animation=”None
The right eye appears to be cyan in the left image, yellow in the middle one, and red in the right one, though in each image the right eye is the same color as the left eye. Color constancy is supposed to be perfect when in each image the right eye appears to be the same color as the bead on the hair.
[image_with_animation image_url=”3578″ alignment=”” animation=”None
Color contrast using the same color combinations as the faces above. The small square in each image is the same color as the “eye” in of the face, respectively. The surround in each image is the same color as the “skin” of the face, respectively.
[image_with_animation image_url=”3579″ alignment=”” animation=”None Images from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/228490244_fig1_Fig-1-Colour-illusion-by-colour-constancy-The-right-eye-appears-to-be-cyan-in-the-left These optical tricks are happening all the time, in everything we look at. Color changes according to what it’s next to. This means everywhere there is a color, this is happening in some small or dramatic measure. It’s happening in our subject matter, on our palettes, and on our canvas. I believe this is a big part of why the seemingly simple goal of “applying color where it goes” in a painting is so danged complicated.
The most interesting thing about these puzzles is that once they’re “solved” they still fool the eye. Must be some strong mechanisms in the mind to fight the proof before us. I’m educated and experienced with color theory, but that doesn’t stop my eyes from being fooled. Because of this, I’ve changed my painting strategies from “I’m going to learn to see better” to “I’m going to have a lot of my own tricks to make sure I don’t get fooled by my own paintings.” Interested in learning more? Check out my “Colors” class. I never tire of this subject. The more I learn, the more interesting it gets.
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I ran into this little collection of cake paintings posted by Anne McGurk, and felt inspired to share. Inspired would not quite be the most accurate word, as I am trying not to eat sugar. If you’ve ever tried to avoid sweet foods, you know how prevalent sugar is. Sweets didn’t seem like such a …
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This proclamation didn’t stop Chuck Close, who started painting portraits in the 1960s, 10 years after Pollock’s most famous drip paintings, and still during Greenberg’s reign. “I thought, ‘Well then, that field is wide open.’ And why the fuck can’t you make a portrait anyway?” – Chuck Close An informative little video WTF The quotes …
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R. B. Kitaj 1932 – 2007 Edited from https://artbios.net/5-en.html R.B. Kitaj was an American artist who championed figuration in the aftermath of expressionism. Kitaj was an influential figure in the London art scene and was intimate with Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, coining the term “London School” for this group. His art was unabashedly erudite and often accompanied …