Focused Time

There's nothing like back to back spiritual retreats to focus and enhance my perspective on life, where I'm headed, and where I've been.

Add to the pot a couple of weeks of spacey conversation with my aerospace engineer son. Spice the pot with the time crunch to complete Weeks Nine and Ten of the Creating Dala Art online course.

I find myself in an aromatic stew of nourishment and possibilities.

Mike and I are often in sync with one another in the oddest of ways.  The color scheme I used for Week Nine of Creating Dala Art was basically the same as the one he wants to use for the marketing of a product he's creating.

Mike's color swatches

 Chili Pepper Garden Dala

In place of the violet that Mike wants, his original options included a rich, deep blue (somewhere between cobalt and ultramarine) or a neutralized, pasty-looking violet. It's critically important to realize the limitations of printer ink, CMYK, the paper that it may or may not be printed on and the marketing impact of the color combination options up close as well as at a distance.  Our discussion on color lasted for hours.

Whereas the color value diamond I use for myself and for my workshops works like magic for many artists, it did nothing but cause confusion for Mike.  The questions he asked me were like gold nuggets for me as a teacher.  He planted the seed for another visual tool that's already beginning to take form in my head.

Week Nine of Creating Dala Art was almost complete when I arrived at Mike's in Mountain View.  After our discussion, I started completely over with the lesson and recreated it, keeping in mind some of the excellent questions Mike had asked me during our color discussion.

Week Ten will also deviate from my original plan and it will be stronger, thanks to good questions.  Week Ten will will focus at an even deeper level on how to manipulate warms and cools within every area of your painting to achieve your desired results.  Eventually Warms and Cools will be a separate, in depth, course that includes the aspects of warm and cool neutrals. 

Being able to intentionally manipulate the interaction between warm and cool whether it's between a warm red and a cool red or between a yellow and a violet, is a powerful tool to have your tool box.  I include reference to warms and cools in all of my color courses.  While creating the dala art course I've come to discover new ways for me to present the multi-dimensional aspects of color choices.

Your feedback ... your questions, comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome so that I can be aware of where to use more clarified communication and where I've succeeded in passing along this powerful tool.

The three Honey Bee Dalas illustrate the same subject using very different design and different application of warm and cool colors.

For more information on the Dala Art, click here.