The Many Faces of Color…
August 15, 2018
Babylonian 4: a color has many faces that are reflected in experiences that are relative in nature. Observations of color within different contexts creating deceptive optical illusions. Design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
Chinese 5: Our eye’s ability to adjust its retina is a means to adjust to higher or lower light condition; when seeing gradual gradations between light and dark, humans are often unable to distinguish between subtly lighter or darker colors so that some shades of gray get lost. Design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
Deceiving color
August 14, 2018
Hindu 6 illustrates the concept of middle color to show that color performs simultaneous functions. Design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
Ancient Egyptian 7 illustrates the concept of the subtraction of color to show that color can perform many roles. Design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
Ancient Roman 8 illustrates after-image color deception. The human retina receives three primary colors (red, yellow, or blue); by staring at the red, it becomes fatigued and sensitive to red sections so that a subsequent sudden shift of focus to white will cause the mine to perceive red’s complimentary color. Design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
To purchase other designs as cards from Zazzle.
Color’s illusions…
August 13, 2018
Ancient European 9, circa 12th century illustrates the illusion of transparence when color mixture leads to a loss of opacity so that it appears transparent or translucent. Design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
Greek 10 shows that transparent illusions occur as color gains light only in direct color.
Roman 11 illustrates color boundaries and plastic action, a space-illusion employed by Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
The Impressionists….
August 10, 2018
“Mayan 12” illustrates optical mixture where color dots change other colors by merging into a new color, which was used by Impressionists. Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat (1859-1891) and Paul Signac (1863-1935) developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. Design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
“Mayan 13” illustrates the Bezold Effect, another optical illusion, named after a German professor of meteorology, Wilhelm von Bezold (1837–1907), who discovered that a color may appear different depending on its relation to adjacent colors, which happens when small areas of color are interspersed. Design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
Thursday on the trail bead motif…
August 9, 2018
14 features tonal parallel intervals, design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
15 features experiment with intersecting color (middle mixture color) that would have been more successful using paper instead of ink; the result was too murky. According to Albers this exercise should illustrate a new deception the “fluting effect” found in a Doric column, which shows the illusion of volume. Fluting in architecture is the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface. The term typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications.
16 features trail bead motif, design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
Color play… trade wine bead motifs
August 8, 2018
17 features letterform “Q” with eye bead motif, design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
18 features Yerushalmi letterform of “tzadi” with trail bead motif, designed by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
19 features Sephardi letterform of ‘kopf” with ancient eye bead designed by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
20 features Tibetan letterform of “tsa” with ancient eye bead motif designed by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
More free studies…
August 7, 2018
21 features Greek letterform of “upsilon” designed by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
22 features a light green base color, design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
23 features a light blue base color, design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
Free studies… X Y Z
August 6, 2018
Mosaic millefiore glass bead motifs from the nineteenth century were made with ancient techniques developed in western Asia where composite case canes of preformed unites were fused together to create colorful complex designs.
24 features a light blue base color, design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
25 features a red base color, design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
26 features a mauve base color, design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
The early bird catches the worm…
July 30, 2018
“Hongry rooster don’t cackle w’en he fine a wum.” Words from “Uncle Remus and his Friends”(1892) and drawing by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
Visual Afterthoughts… Lydia Maria Child
July 25, 2018
Lydia Maria Child (1802-1880) began her career almost two centuries ago, and some of her writing is dated, yet some resonates today in odd ways. She address the contradiction in American society as to whether to conserve of consume with her association of ideas. Child also offered this thought: The United States is a warning rather than en example to the world.” This odd group including a bird, bees, a squirrel, a whale, a wax doll, and a horse appeared in “Fanny’s Menagerie,” Rainbows for Children (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1847): 119-131. Design by Meredith Eliassen, 2018.
