Code Pink

“Code Pink” includes an early experimentation with the varying the size of the dots to make the pattern. This happens to be one of my favorites after the red one. As I went a long I had to mix colors a little differently. Juxtaposition of colors alters what  colors looks like.

acrylic on canvas, 22″ x 28″

Code Green

After the first four were completed, I began work on the second four. I came up with patterns for them too. The process was a lot faster this time around.

acrylic on canvas, 22″ x 28″

Code Purple

“Code Purple” is a very similar to “Code Blue.” Instead of lines out from the middle, I used an alternating pattern out from the center. It has more a diffused feel to it.

acrylic on canvas, 22″ x 28″

Code Blue

This one shows more my attempt at making the dots raw in the pattern. It didn’t go as well. Anyway, I was aiming at a radial pattern with a disco feel.

acrylic on canvas, 22″ x 28″

Code Orange

This painting is the first one I started, but I didn’t resolve it until after “Code Red.” It contains the predominant orange color and the other colors I spoke of in my last post. You’ll see some of the colors repeated in the remaining six paintings.

acrylic on canvas, 22″ x 28″

Code Red

In 2002 I was determined to do a series of eight paintings that would hang in a office building corridor that faced Poydras Avenue in downtown New Orleans. I bought eight Monet gallery wrap canvases. First I drew grids on four of them. Then I proceeded to paint in colors.

At the beginning of 2002 I became obsessed with the color orange. It came about because of a coincidental design used by both the film “Orange County” and the logo for the National Art Education Association in Miami. Both included circular orange slices. I then picked out a grouping of colors that had a Mexican feel, if you will. That was how the origin of the colors on the first canvas I started.

I then gave the other colors a chance to be predominant on the other canvases. Along the way I made adjustments for the less predominant colors. But then I hit a brick wall. What do I do with the grid to make it more interesting? At first I tried having light come through the shapes. On another canvas I had abstract splatters shooting up. Unhappy with those choices, I painted the triangles solid colors again.

Then I had an “aha moment.” I added dots to the paintings. My first objective was to soften the triangles. The dots were on the raw side – kind of sloppy. I created outer bars with a design sandwiched inbetween. The first one to click, was this one below, “Code Red.”

So why the name “Code Red?” Well, at the time I was working on these paintings, there was still the initial post 9/11 hysteria. The terror-alert level system was introduced with its color-coded levels of terror. Also, I was interested in the fact that there was paranoia about what might be hidden in visual images being sent around in e-mail. But I guess the biggest factor was my mother’s prognosis at the time. Her breast cancer had spread to her spine. My sister and I were put on heightened alert during this period – April through October.

acrylic on canvas, 22″ x 28″

Watercolor Grid

Next I tried a watercolor version of my grid. Again I played with the variations in colors. I glazed colors over other colors. Beyond this I wasn’t quite sure where I’d take my idea next.

watercolor on paper, 8.5” x 11”

Color Pencil Grid

Having played with patterns in black ink, I thought I should experiment with color using the same kind of  grid in color pencil. Creating solid areas of color made rendering this grid more difficult. There are times when doing a sketch like this helps more than just diving into a project.

color pencil on paper, 5.5″ x 8.5″

The Beginning

My students did not understand the term “value” in art. I showed them these grids and had them look at the pieces at a distance. This was to let them see how to make grays by using lines and dots.

ink on paper, 8.5″ x 11″