February Artists' Birthdays

Camille Monet and her son as painted by Pierre August Renoir at the Monet's garden. Renoir eventually tired of painting in the Impressionist style and traveled to Italy to study the old masters' works before he returned to France. He painted many portraits of voluptuous women, most nude. I had to leave a museum room one time because it was filled with too many Renoir works hung close together in a small space. It was overwhelming.

I visited his studio in southern France and learned that his paint brushes were tied to his hands so he could work in his latter years. What dedication!

The birthdays for February artists are:

Pierre-Auguste Renoir February 25, 1841
1	Thomas Cole, 1801
2	William E. Artis, 1914
3	Norman Rockwell, 1894
4	Fernand Léger, 1881
5	Alison Saar, 1956
8	John Ruskin, 1819
8	Franz Marc, 1880
9	Robert Morris, 1931
10	Mary Lovelace O’Neill, 1942
11	William Henry Fox Talbot, 1800
12	Max Beckmann, 1884
12	Joan Mitchell, 1925
12	William Wegman, 1943
13	Grant Wood, 1892
15	Charles-François Daubigny, 1817
17	Raphaelle Peale, 1774
17	Hung Liu, 1948
18	Louis Comfort Tiffany, 1848
18	Max Klinger, 1857
19	Constantin Brancusi, 1876
20	Ansel Adams, 1902
22	Rembrandt Peale, 1778
22	Horace Pippin, 1888
23	Tom Wesselmann, 1931
24	Charles LeBrun, 1619
24	Winslow Homer, 1836
25	Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1841
26	Honoré Victorin Daumier, 1808
29	Augusta Savage, 1892

If you click on the blue lines, you can learn more about each artist.

Cooking With Color: When to Use Red in the Kitchen

Candy Apple Red, Red Licorice and more for your kitchen walls, cabinets or island? The color choices are as delicious as they sound.

Ever since I learned that most arguments in a family occur in a yellow kitchen, I have begun to look at other colors to consider in our space. Jennifer Ott is an Austin, Texas interior design

expert who offers the following great examples of what red can add to a kitchen. bbl

 

Jennifer Ott, LEED AP, Assoc. AIA

 

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Red represents love, life, power and passion in many cultures. A stimulating color that can raise one's blood pressure and increase one's appetite, red is a great choice for an accent color in the kitchen. For those who want to go big and bold, it can be used in larger amounts to call attention to cabinetry, walls or appliances. As this is an attention-getting hue, it's important to think strategically about how you use it and how it will work with other colors and materials in your kitchen.

by Jennifer Ott

by Jennifer Ott

Red Paint Picks

Finding the right kind of red can be tough. Some are warmer, with more orange; others are cooler, with more blue. And how blue or orange they look is affected by adjacent colors. When considering red paint, it's a good idea to get samples of several versions you like and try them out in your space before making a commitment. Also, keep in mind that it can take several coats of red to get full coverage. If you will be using a primer, ask your paint retailer to tint the primer in preparation for red.

Some of my favorite reds (shown here, clockwise from top left):
1. Rectory Red 217, from Farrow & Ball, is a beautiful deep, saturated red.
2. Currant Red 1323, from Benjamin Moore, has some orange in it, making it a warm red.
3. Grenedier Red 3-14, from Pratt & Lambert, has blue in it, making it a cooler red.
4. Heartthrob SW6866, from Sherwin-Williams, is a vibrant and true red.
5. Cut Ruby 1009-4, from Valspar, is another true red with a small bit of blue in it.
6. Red Alert AC216-5, from Kelly-Moore, is a pretty pinkish red.
7. Candy Apple Red 8371, from Behr, is a bold red with a bit of orange.
8. Red Licorice 234-7, from Pittsburgh Paints, is a deep, cool red that's close to burgundy.

Now on to inspiration for using this lively hue in your kitchen.

by Corvallis Custom Kitchens & Baths by Corvallis Custom Kitchens & Baths

What a colorful and fun kitchen this is! It's modern yet warm and inviting. By grounding the red with warm wood tones and contrasting it with a soothing green hue, the designer made this kitchen peppy without its becoming too much.

by Shannon Malone

by Shannon Malone

This space is magical to me. It speaks to my love of color and of clean, open spaces with abundant natural light. The bank of painted wood windows is utterly charming, as is the farmhouse sink and graceful gooseneck faucet. It's a kitchen that must be an absolute pleasure to cook and entertain in.

by Teton Heritage Builders by Teton Heritage Builders

Consider your ceiling, otherwise known as the forgotten fifth wall, when decorating your kitchen. This neutral kitchen gets a wonderful punch of color via the hot red painted tile ceiling. Heavy stone and dark wood look great with the red which balances them. Do you think the red knobs on the stove might have given a clue to the designer who chose that vibrant red for the ceiling?

by HartmanBaldwin Design/Build by HartmanBaldwin Design/Build

Don't neglect your floor either. Red is an attention-getting color, so use it on the floor only if you have an interesting material you want to call attention to, such as this scored concrete. The bright red floor, tempered with the multiple reds in the rug and the artwork make this room handsome. A color repeated in various shades always adds depth and interest and keeps our eyes moving around a space or a painting.

by ZeroEnergy Design by ZeroEnergy Design

I'm a fan of bold accent walls, as they are an easy, affordable and low-commitment way to add excitement and drama to a room. This bright orange-red wall accentuates the interesting architecture of the space and pulls you right into the kitchen. Austere and cool greys and metal plus straight lines are softened by this warm red, It adds personality and adds a welcome foil for the blinding white on the right.

by Axis Mundi by Axis Mundi

Not quite ready for a large wall of bright red? Try a smaller hit of color. This true red wall works well with the warm wood and orange hues. Analagous colors work well together. Note that the red adds some variety in a warm tone.

by Klopf Architecture by Klopf Architecture

I usually advise design clients to stick with neutral colors for items that are difficult and expensive to change out, but I also believe in selecting materials you absolutely love. So, while your real estate agent or well-meaning friends and family might tell you to step away from the red tile backsplash, I say if you love it and plan to stay in your house for a while, go for it. But let it be the star of your kitchen by selecting supporting neutral colors and materials that don't compete with it, as this kitchen perfectly illustrates. I would tweak this one a bit. The tile appears to be cool red and the massive cabinets look warmish in comparison. After the tile is in place, the easiest solution might be to paint the cabinets a cool grey or charcoal grey to handle that massive shot of red. I like the tile's grey grout and the pattern which picks up the colors of the appliances and the drawer pulls, etc.

by Ward-Young Architecture & Planning

by Ward-Young Architecture & Planning

Appliances offer another way to pull red into your kitchen. Our eyes are drawn to red, so make sure you have appliances worthy of the attention, such as the range and work-of-art vent hood in this modern rustic beauty of a kitchen. The distressed red walls also pull the gaze in and up to the interesting architectural details of this amazing space. The walls are a mystery, they remind me of walls I once stripped of wallpaper then antiqued. What my eye is drawn to is the counter/desk top in the lower left of the picture. What an intriguing surface. Note that there are several finishes on the cabinets to add interest and contrast with the pale floor.

Private Comment

by TruLinea Architects Inc. by TruLinea Architects Inc.

This gorgeous modern rustic kitchen has a red-clad island as the anchor. The red appears to have quite a bit of orange in it, which serves as a nice warm contrast to the cooler colors in the space. I would call the island color a greyed-red; its complement is added to neutralize it. I have always loved turquoise and red together. The only thing I would "lose in this room is the peach colored chair. It is too delicate to balance the large good and island.

by Dyna Contracting by Dyna Contracting

I love the eye-catching red cabinetry in this fetching open-plan kitchen. If you opt for a bold hue on your base cabinets, consider using a neutral hue for your upper cabinets or installing open shelving. Either move will break up the red and keep it from becoming overwhelming.I like the bright red and stainless steel with open shelves. Handsome choices. Even though the cabinets look warm toned, the clerestory windows add so much light it works. Notice the same wood tone in the ceiling that shows to the upper right. Repetition brings the composition strength.

Renaissance Influences Today

7 Renaissance Design Features Right at Home Today

Your home may be taking design cues from the Medicis, from a single silk pillow to a sky-high ceiling over that four-poster bed

 

Julia Pockett

Based in Cambridgeshire, U.K., Julia Pockett is founder Director of Sujiivana Design Ltd.

 

Patterned walls. Walls were generally smooth and neutral in color. However, they were often painted with patterns, which would now be translated to wallpaper. But these paint techniques have also been used over the ages, influencing the introduction of stenciling.

 

 

Mural fresco painting. Mural fresco painting adorned the walls of the more palatial Renaissance homes. Again, this highly decorative painting has influenced many elaborate wallpapers, while hand painting is reserved for the experts.

 

 

Four-poster beds. The Renaissance saw the invention of the ornate bed as we know it. Hand-carved four-posters on raised platforms had a canopy for rich-colored drapes to keep out the cold. While bed designs have evolved, many of us still can't resist a four-poster, so the basic design has been adapted for modern lifestyles and changing tastes.

 

 

Silk. Silk was the favorite textile of the Renaissance, used in bright colors for drapes and loose cushions for benches and chair seats. Furnishings were quite minimal at this time, but chairs began to increase in variety as an alternative to stools and benches. Thank goodness the early designs have evolved in favor of comfort.

 

 

If you have not discovered HOUZZ's interior design website, treat yourself to it.

Color Vibrations

Centuries ago, Egyptian physicians used colors to heal patients. Our reaction to colors is automatic. The following article discusses vibrations of colors, which means colors' energy affects us either positively or negatively. It seems many are sick now with flu or sinus problems. Perhaps we can strengthen our immune systems by learning of the powerful influence of colors.

Loving the LightColor Therapy
by Madisyn Taylor


Often the colors we like best are the colors we most need in our lives and provide us with subtle vibrational help.


The wondrous displays of color that define the world around us are manifestations of light and, as such, each possesses a unique frequency. The attraction we feel to certain colors is not a matter of pure chance—we experience the beneficial affects of color even while blindfolded. We are naturally drawn to those colors that lift our mood, expand consciousness, and restore health. Color therapy, also known as chromo therapy, allows us to harness the power of individual color frequencies to heal the body, positively influence our emotions, and achieve a renewed sense of inner harmony through sympathetic resonance. Colors do not directly affect the composition of our physical, mental, or aura, but they noninvasively alter the vibrational characteristics of diverse elements of the self so that each resonates at its proper healthy frequency.

It is easy to overlook the colors that saturate our personal and professional environments. Yet these, whether in the form of the paint on our walls or the clothing we wear, can influence our thoughts, behaviors, and feelings to an extraordinary degree. The colors we like best are often those that we need most in our lives, and there are many ways we can utilize them. Basking under a colored lightbulb or gazing at an area of color can stimulate or calm us depending on the color we choose. For example, red stimulates the brain, circulatory systems, and first chakra, giving us an energy boost, while blue acts on the throat chakra, soothing the body and mind. And when we do not feel drawn to any one color, we can still benefit from the healing effects of white light, which is an amalgamation of all the colors of the visible spectrum. It is a cleansing color, one that can purify us on many levels.

Human beings evolved to delight in vivid sunsets and rainbows, to enjoy the sensations awakened by particularly eye-catching color, and to decorate our spaces and ourselves with bright colors. In essence, we evolved to love the light because of its harmonizing influence on every aspect of the self. When we pay attention to the potential affects of individual colors, we can modify our spaces, wardrobes, and habits to ensure that we introduce the colors that speak to us most deeply in our everyday lives.

Color in Music

The Colour of Popular Music – Features 154 bands with colors in their title.
Have you ever thought of how many band names or song titles have a color in them? Hello, Purple Rain and Pink Floyd! Dorothy laid it all out in a color wheel fashion detailing either colorful band names or song titles and the color that matches them.

The Colour of Popular Music – detail

The Colour of Popular Music – detail

The Colour of Popular Music – detail

The Colour of Song – Features 576 songs that include a color in their title.

The Colour of Song – detail

The Colour of Song – detail

The Colour of Song – detail

The Colour of Song – detail

 

Caroline Williamson is Associate Editor of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and writes about her life, inspirations and creative pursuits on her element75 blog.

 

If you scroll back to my post of April 20, 2011, you can see the hundreds of songs I listed related to colors.   I admire Caroline's graphic skill in making this information so attractive.          

           

"Color Queen"

GoGo Design Group founder Rebecca Pogonitz has been obsessed with true beauty practically since birth. The daughter of an art historian, constant family outings to museums and installations imbued her early on with an appreciation for color, form and function. Yearly trips to Colonial Williamsburg helped to teach her the most important of lessons: good design is nearly always timeless.

As an adult, Pogonitz began her career at a prominent Boston architectural firm before earning a BFA at Chicago’s International Academy of Design and Technology. Though she initially gravitated toward public relations and marketing, her intense passion for aesthetics would eventually win out. She began her design career with LAC Designs and The Concept Group before branching out on her own in 2001. Since then, her acclaimed work for clients both residential and commercial has appeared in publications like Chicago Tribune Magazine, Northshore Magazine and Builder/Architect Magazine. Unlike many interior designers, Rebecca Pogonitz prefers to collaborate with clients rather than impose her own sense of style on a project. The result is an incredibly rich and eclectic body of work. “I try to get inside their head and see what the client is all about,” Rebecca says. “It’s not about me. It’s about empowering people to discover what they truly want.”

Some people are gifted with a color sense and can look at an empty room or canvas and know immediately the exact color it calls for. I feel akin to this woman because I, too, took my children to art museums when they were young. Both have good eyes for color and beauty, a legacy I am glad to pass on. My mother took time to show me color and beauty in nature when we lived far from museums, and I think that influenced me to look for color everywhere and to revel in it.bbl

"As a child, Rebecca Pogonitz was always learning about art. Her mother was a passionate art historian, and the family frequented museums and art fairs.

“We didn’t go to water parks, we went to museums,” said Pogonitz, “My mother was constantly exposing me to color and composition and texture, and she loved art so much, she talked about it all the time.”

Pogonitz said her mother passed a love of aesthetic detail and color onto her, and that’s what spawned her career in interior design, and her Skokie based company, Gogo Design Group.

Working with both residential and corporate clients, Pogonitz remodels and redecorates spaces on the North Shore and in the city. Jobs range from new construction and gutted kitchens and baths, to rearranging and repurposing rooms, and choosing paint colors.

“Good design wears many caps,” said Pogonitz, who holds a BFA in interior design and who worked for another design firm for many years before starting her company in 2001. “I’m about solving issues with all the criteria involved, including budget, comfort, taste and style. I look at design as an overall umbrella and I create for you.”

Cheryl Hoberman has hired Pogonitz several times for remodeling projects in her family’s Skokie home.

“She doesn’t come in and push her views,” said Hoberman, “She listens to us and what we want.”

Referring to her as “the color queen,” Hoberman said Pogonitz has a gift.

“Rebecca can look at an empty space that’s gutted and envision it whole. I can’t do that,” she said.

“She’s got a knack for the way she picks colors and what will go together,” said Dena Levy, who hired Pogonitz to remodel an addition to her family’s home, “She truly listens and helps you realize your own vision.”

“I really am the color queen,” said Pogonitz, who has lived in Skokie with her family for 17 years. “I can see colors that other people can’t. I can visualize, and if the color is off, the whole project will be off. Color affects everything.”

Gogo Design Group charges a lump sum fee or an hourly rate, a decision Pogonitz said she leaves to her clients, making sure they feel comfortable with her rates from the beginning.

When asked if she had a certain style, Pogonitz said she works with all different tastes, and that she strives to help clients define their own personal style.

“I’m not a trendy designer,” she said, “I’m edgy and fresh, but something can be fresh and timeless at the same time.”

“Look at my house!” exclaimed Hoberman, “It always comes together so nicely. Rebecca always hits the nail on the head.”

“Our home truly is the way we envisioned it,” said Levy.

Pogonitz said another truly fun part of her job is the shopping, and that there are so many beautiful things that she gets to choose from and put in her clients’ homes.

 

(This sums up why I feel our surroundings are so influential on our lives.bbl)

 

“The space you live in is so vital to your everyday existence,” she said, “If you don’t feel you love it, you don’t have balance. I create spaces that feed people’s souls, and where they can say, ‘I’m home.’”

Cure for Color Blindness?

Color blindness is a hindrance for those so afflicted. It is sad to think that those with this quirk miss out on what "normal" vision folks see. Now, there is a long-needed invention which addresses the problem. I hope it helps. It must be exciting to see colors for the first time which were invisible to CB sufferers before.

Sunglasses provide fix for color blindness:

Record Set for Abstract Expressionist Work

P. S. A new record was set November 15, 2012 at auction for Franz Klein's work. Pre-auction estimate was for $20-30,000,000. The piece sold for
$40,000,000. Abstract Expressionsts' works are setting new records.

Abstract Expressionism

Franz Kline

Abstract Expressionism or "AbEx" (a.k.a. Action Painting or Color Field Painting; a.k.a. The New York School) exploded onto the art scene after World War II with its characteristic messiness and extremely energetic applications of paint. To the contemporary audience, the whole enterprise seemed like youthful antagonism--hardly worthy of the name "art." (That's what the critics said about Impressionism too.)
Abstract Expressionism is also referred to as Gestural Abstraction, because its brush stokes revealed the artist's process. This process is the subject of the art itself. As Harold Rosenberg explained: the work of art becomes an "event." For this reason, he dubbed this movement Action Painting in 1952. But today art historians feel that his emphasis on "action" leaves out another side of Abstract Expressionism: control vs. chance. Therefore, we must acknowledge the foundation of Abstract Expressionism comes from three major sources: Kandinsky's abstraction, the Dadaist's reliance on chance, and the Surrealist's endorsement of Freudian theory that embraces the relevance of dreams, sexual drives (libido) and the authenticity of ego (unfiltered self-centeredness, known as narcissism), which this art expresses through "action."
Although at first glance it seems that your Kindergartner can do it, trust me: these artists cultivate the interplay of skill and unplanned occurrences to determine the painting's final outcome. So, if you feel that you are a budding Jackson Pollock, may I suggest experimenting outside on the lawn or in your garage--far from precious possessions. Pollock used an empty barn in East Hampton which is now the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center.

Jackson Pollock

Most of the Abstract Expressionists lived in New York and met at the Cedar Tavern in Greenwich Village. Therefore the movement is also called The New York School. A good number of the artists met through the Depression era WPA (Works Progress/Project Administration), a government program that paid artists to paint murals in government buildings. Others met through Hans Hoffman, the master of the "push-pull" school of Cubism, who came from Germany in the early 1930s to Berkeley and then New York to serve as the guru of abstraction. He taught at the Art Students League and then opened his own school.

But rather than follow the tame brush applied methods from the Old World, these young bohemians invented new ways to apply paint in a dramatic and experimental manner. Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) became known as "Jack the Dripper" because of his drip-and-spatter technique that fell upon a canvas laid out horizontally on the floor. Willem de Kooning (1904-1907) swashbuckled with loaded brushes and garish colors that seemed to collide rather than settle down into co-existence. Mark Tobey (1890-1976) "wrote" his painted marks, as if he were inventing an unintelligible alphabet for an exotic language that no one knew or would ever bother to learn. His work was based on his study of Chinese calligraphy and brush painting, as well as Buddhism.
The key to understanding Abstract Expressionism is to understand the concept of "deep" in 1950s slang. "Deep" meant not decorative, not facile (superficial) and not insincere. Abstract Expressionists strove to uncover their most personal feelings directly through making art, and thereby achieve some transformation--or, if possible, some personal redemption.
Therefore, Abstract Expressionism's physicality comes from explorations of inner turmoil and anxiety. Some of this distress came from exposure to the disturbing reports of horrors and pain endured during World War II. Some of the distress came from the threat of a nuclear holocaust as the Cold War heated up.

Abstract Expressionism can be divided into two tendencies: Action Painting (Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Tobey, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell and Grace Hartigan, among many, many others).
 Color Field Painting (Mark Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler, Jules Olitski, Kenneth Noland and Adolph Gottlieb and so forth).

 Mark Rothko

How Long Has Abstract Expressionism Been a Movement?

Abstract Expressionism evolved through the work of each individual artist. Generally speaking, each artist arrived at this free-wheeling style by the end of the 1940s and continued in the same manner to the end of his or her life. The style has remained alive well into the current century through its youngest practitioners.

What Are the Key Characteristics of Abstract Expressionism?

• Unconventional application of paint, usually without a recognizable subject (de Kooning's Woman series is an exception) that tends toward amorphous shapes in brilliant colors.
• Dripping, smearing, slathering, and flinging lots of paint on to the canvas (often an unprimed canvas).
• Sometimes gestural "writing" in a loosely calligraphic manner.
• In the case of Color Field artists: carefully filling the picture plane with zones of color that create tension between the shapes and hues.

Suggested Reading...For those who want to expand their Art History knowledge this year:

Anfam, David. Abstract Expressionism
New York & London: Thames and Hudson, 1990

Karmel, Pepe, et al. New York Cool: Painting and Sculpture from the NYU Collection
New York: Grey Art Gallery, New York University, 2009

Kleeblatt, Norman, et al. Action/Abstraction: Pollock, de Kooning and American Art, 1940-1976
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008

Sandler, Irving. Abstract Expressionism and the American Experience: A Reevaluation
Lenox: Hard Press, 2009

Sandler, Irving. The New York School: The Painters and Sculptors from the Fifties
New York: Harper and Row, 1978

Sandler, Irving. The Triumph of American Painting: A History of Abstract Expressionism
New York: Praeger, 1970

Most Popular Colors

In Turkey, a paint company made pie charts to represent the most popular colors for various rooms.

Click next image or use arrow keys to advance.

Colour and Space is a project that breaks Pinterest data into actionable human preferences.

It shows, quite clearly, the colors people have chosen for various rooms (in the items they’ve shared, at least).

You’ll notice that rooms actually have quite a bit of variety.

But interestingly enough, you’re only looking at the results of a single region: Turkey.

 

That’s too bad, because this greater idea--global color preference down to the room--would tell us a lot about international taste.

Plus, it might actually inspire us to get outside our own color ruts for a change.

 

 

 

Click next image or use arrow keys to advance.

Colour and Space is a project that breaks Pinterest data into actionable human preferences.

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Infographic: Mining Pinterest To Discover Our Color Preferences, By Room

 

Colour and Space is a project by designers Mie Frey Damgaard and Peter Ørntoft for decorative paint brand Jotun (Turkey). It digs through Turkish Pinterest boards, analyzing two fairly basic but powerful categories: color and location. The results are placed into simple pie charts, showing preferred colors in places around the home like kids’ rooms (the faintest pink), living rooms (maize), and kitchens (white).

“We think it works as inspiration for at least the Turkish consumers,” Ørntoft tells Co.Design. “With the diagrams they can see the color choices of other consumers so it works as a color map for these specific household areas.”
Indeed. While Pinterest is a neat way to window shop, Colour and Space leverages big data to boil all that design into the simplest of actionable metrics--what color should my living room be? Because what you’re responding to in some random interior design photo may be the unique furnishings, but it’s just as often the color--that striking palette that’s all of a trip to Lowe’s away from reality.
While Colour and Space only examines Turkey’s Pinterest boards, they explored a bit deeper through their own research. As you may expect, the designers noted strong regional differences in color preference.

“Apparently the Turkish people have a very different and more colorful taste than the Scandinavians,” Ørntoft writes. “Had it been data from Scandinavia the diagrams would have looked a lot different--more subtle and white/light greyish. It’s nice that you can see a difference in culture depicted in these diagrams.”
No doubt, Colour and Space could scale to every country in the world (or at least those that have Pinterest). I imagine a whole globe with our political boundaries replaced by our favorite bathroom tiles. What correlations and outliers might we see? It’s a fascinating proposition, especially as over several years, we might be able to watch a timelapse of tastes changing by region. You could see green appliances replaced with beige replaced with white replaced with stainless steel, right in the data itself.
In other words, each of us could get a map of everything the biggest retailers analyze every day. And we all might shop a bit differently having it.
See more here.

Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson is a writer who started Philanthroper.com, a simple way to give back every day. His work has also appeared at Gizmodo, Kotaku, PopMech, PopSci, ... Continued