The Power of Grey: How the nuances of grey bring harmony to art and life.
One of the joys of painting flowers is working with their never-ending array of colors. I revel in mixing violets, magentas and corals, and seeing a flower burst into life on the canvas in its full glory takes my breath away every time.
But painting subjects infused with so many colors has taught me that their real beauty lies within the myriad tiny shifts between colors. A violet iris isn’t just “purple.” The iris flower is made up of an infinitesimal number of “purple greys” – ranging from dark to light, and warm to cool. Our eyes can register the most subtle shifts of color – and finding those nuances is one of painting’s great joys for me.
“Hymn”, Oil on Linen, 24 x 36”
Collection of Monterey Museum of Art
Detail of “Arabesque,” 24 x 36,” oil on linen, Private Collection
It is a color’s “greys” that give balance, grace and harmony within a painting. We are taught in art school that grey is much more than just black and white paint mixed together. We learn that by adding some of a color’s complement (its opposite on the color wheel), we will have a grey variation that shimmers or glows. And by adding touches of white – or another pale color – we can make an infinite number of greys. When a flower is painted with these subtle color shifts, it becomes a feast of nuances for our eyes.
Seeing the beauty of grey in a painting has a parallel in our lives as well. Many of the great wisdom traditions teach us that “black-and-white thinking” (in which everything is right/wrong, good/bad, etc.) prevents us from experiencing all the subtleties and variations of this wondrous world of ours. Seeing beauty in the grey shadows of a white rose reminds us to find the beauty of the middle ground (grey) between opinions, personalities, cultures and beliefs. Yes, color seduces us with its sheer gorgeousness, but it is the greys that bring harmony, grace and even peace to art and our lives.
“Illumine,” Oil on Linen, 25 x 25”
(Private Collection)