Dreaming Green

Here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there is a layer of snow on the ground and the thermometer reads in the teens and I am planning to paint today. When the world outside is not so welcoming, what better way to spend the day than turning inward and contemplating the world of color.

Since I started my work with color, there are some painting days when I am only interested in working with one hue. In this way, I reacquaint myself with their qualities and relationships and can more easily integrate them into my other work. Today is one of those days.

Today I chose green. Why green? I am not sure, maybe because I am thinking of summer days and grassy hills and gardens. Maybe I want to feel the growing forces of life that move and shape our world. But mostly it is a feeling of inner contentment. Green is a color of balance. In Goethe’s color wheel, it rests in the well between yellow, bright and shining, and blue, deep and receding. Green lives in the middle, between lightness and darkness.