For those of you who have been following my work numerous years, know that I love red but of late have been in my blue period. Through the Mist burst into life recently breaking through my blue spell. Interestingly the color red has the longest wavelength, the shortest frequency, and thus the lowest energy based on Sir Isaac Newton’s physics that helped us understand solid matter and moving objects found in the earth’s gravitational field. Another important figure in how we see color was Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe. His  hypotheses – one must include objective observation and emotional aspects to truly see color. (Goethe is listed as #1 in the 13 Most Intelligent People in the History of the World.) Excerpted from Aaron Fine‘s (Truman State University) Essay: Newton and Goethe: A Dialogue on Color“. (This excerpt is so beautifully articulated, I relate on a visceral level.)

…(Goethe)…”His stance was this: The sun was not made for the eye—it was not made by the eye or of the eye. The eye was made for the sun; it is of the sun. ”
…”The light that bathes creation was the precondition that caused our eyes to be as they are. When we see color it is not out there in the world – painted onto tulips and snow banks – it is formed in our eye and mind. Our perceptual apparatus creates color within us — tweaked and filtered by our emotional state and cultural biases.”

“Color within us” – what would our world be without color? Can you imagine? What would our lives be like without the rose-gold our skies become as the sun sets on the horizon? Or the aqua blue and teal colors of the Caribbean Sea? What would our world be like without the beautiful art that makes us gasp when we stand in front of such expressed talent? What about when we were children and loved to create forms out of the soft clouds as they drifted in the blue sky? What are those memories you have that spoke to you so deeply because of color?