everything color

Silo or inspiration for marble project

I remember when I was in school and working on different projects. One particular project was a marble maze. We had three different color marbles that would have to complete in a certain order and one marble had to roll at least a minute.   After working many days and hours on the project,  everywhere I looked I saw marble projects.

Things changed when I started working in architecture.  I started seeing building details everywhere.  It was like x-ray vision, I could see how buildings were put together.  I even saw buildings in 2-D even after they were built.  I guess I got a little focused.

Now if I’m out hiking, driving down the street or in a store, color pops out at me.  Some of it good, some of it bad.  It’s bad if I don’t notice the color.  I see color combinations in nature that I would never have thought of using, but look awesome together.  I see homes where I commend the owner for going with that color combo, and other buildings make me wince a little.  But what ever the case, I am committed to helping people with color and I enjoy it.  I have a new way of seeing things.

Picture by Jessica Lamphere

Do you ever feel like Pavlov got a hold of you during your early years?  For instance when you see or hear a particular thing does it trigger something in your mind and make you take some sort of action?  For example you hear a ding and you get an irresistible urge to open the microwave door…even if you are at the mall.  I have friends I visit in Colorado Springs and every time I drive there, I pass a sign that says “Greenland” And no matter how many times I pass the sign I have to say the quote from the movie “The Princess Bride” : “Do you want me to send you back to where you were – unemployed in Greenland?!”  For some reason that quote sticks with me.  It cracks me up every time.  It must be the imagery of Vizzini yelling at Fezzik on the boat.  It’s a classic movie.

It is interesting that there is a place in Colorado named Greenland.  I have always thought that to be an odd name.  Does Douglas county have a large population of Greenlanders?  But as I was driving today, I noticed what this rainy May/June has given us.  It brought out beautiful shades of green which contrasted against the cloudy gray sky and the deep blue mountains.  It truly was a beautiful landscape.  Maybe the people who named this area saw it as I did today.  Maybe it did remind them of Greenland, or maybe the grasses were just green.

blank red canvas

I have always admired Russian Constructivist art.  It’s edgy and simple, but yet presents a strong message, great motion and composition.  I don’t agree with the propaganda, but it does produce some great art.  When we bought our house six years ago, I had lofty plans for our kitchen walls.  My plan was to paint a red wall and collect some vintage Russian Constructivist prints.  I really like Vladimir and Georgii Stenberg’s “Battleship Potemkin” movie poster.  But unfortunately more necessary items took hold of my money like a little boy and a dog.  That wall has been naked for awhile.  I stare at it every time I boil a pot of water (because you never watch water boil or it won’t).  I have always loved art and I wanted to be an artist when I was little so I thought I would start an art experiment to see if I could create something that would clothe my wall.

I already painted the background of the canvas the same color as my red wall.  I keep procrastinating the next step.  It is intimidating placing something down permanently, but I guess when it comes to painting and multimedia work nothing is permanent.  It can always be covered up and scraped off.  The same thing goes for painting walls.  If the color is not liked, then it can be done over again.  It’s not always a great option, but at least there is a fix.  I’m taking a chance and great things can come from chances.  I’m not sure if my paintings will turn out great, but I’ll hold my breath and jump in and see!  In the mean time, I’ll keep updating the progress.  After I finish these two canvases, I have four more small ones to be painted.  That is why this is an experiment.  I wouldn’t call it art just yet.

After really enjoying some spring temperatures last week, it snowed today. Not a light dusting but at least 14 inches of beautiful Christmas like snow.  I love winter and snow, but I was enjoying the mid 70′s spring weather!

This picture was taken in color at night with no flash a few days after Christmas in 2006.

In fact I started germinating my herbs and vegetables for my first time ever garden.   But back to the snow:  I really like spring and fall snows.  I think it’s the contrast the white has against the deep browns of damp tree trunks and how the snow clings to the  green leaves.  I also love seeing how bright the night sky is and that it’s always a warm french gray – in fact I would love to paint a room that color.  We needed this storm and I’m glad it brought a little moisture to an otherwise dry but mild winter.

Computers are not new to me.  I am in the generation where I can remember Atari even though I was only a small child.  Original Nintendo was really cool during my childhood and each new game system just got better.  We purchased our first computer my senior year of high school.  When I went to college I didn’t need to have a computer to survive, I just used one of the many computer labs on campus, or my roommate’s computer.  Now everyone owns at least one computer if not multiple laptops, notebooks, desktop, etc.  Currently, to make it through college you need a laptop.  I don’t know what happened.  Between college and now, computers have taken over the world.

Since I used to be at the computer all day I would stay away from them at night.  But a new world was been being built while I was away from the computer.  It’s the virtual world and the World Wide Web.  I’m so far out of sync with computer lingo, I feel like parent trying to relate to a teenager and I’m not even old enough to have a teenager! I feel like the oldest, almost young person around!  I have no clue when “blogging” became a verb.  I recently attended a WordPress word camp for bloggers and they were shooting out acronyms left and right.  I was too ashamed to ask people what they meant or what they stood for, but after I got home I “googled” them.  Now I sort of know what they mean.  Since when did “google” become a verb?

I almost feel like I did when I traveled to China, illiterate but hey, it’s a learning process and I’ve started now.  I know soon blogging will feel like second nature, but until then I still feel a little green behind the ears.