Day 12. Contrast

“Asking to be Seen” 6×6, oil on canvas, framed

I think about color a lot– when I’m cooking, getting dressed, taking a walk, even when I’m trying to solve a problem. When I teach painting, I always start with the color wheel because it holds simple truths most of us never really learn. The colors opposite each other are called compliments. They contrast each other, making the other stand out. They can also subdue the intensity of one another when mixed, creating a whole spectrum of rich hues and values you simply cannot get by just by adding either black or white. 

Art, in all its many forms, feels most important in uncertain times. I wonder what it would look like if we took some cues from the color wheel, went back to kindergarten, and did some finger painting. 

Politicians Should Learn to Paint

Black and white are overdone

In even a beginner’s class they’d learn

The color wheel, devoid of both,

Finds contrasting colors on its opposite sides

Green across from red

Blue from orange

Purple from yellow

After several sessions, we’d ask the group:

Now class, what do we call those opposites?

In unison they’d sing the answer 

annunciating every syllable:

Comp-li-ments

Maybe if every time they used harsh black lines

To form colorless cartoons

We’d gently say, “Try again”

Give them three squirts of paint on a paper plate

Near a window

Where a cardinal, red and shining 

Arises from the green brush

Wings outstretched,

Asking to be seen