In Terms of Colour...

The Colours on my Balcony

2011-10-30T18:00:00.001Z

It's this time of the year which I like when the sun is shining - but only then. The colours of nature are exploding once more - so many different shades which try to compete.

This year I decided to do something about the greys which are usually dominant on my balcony at this point and I planted Chrysanthemum in every corner. Now it looks like this:

(all photos ©Petra Voegtle)

~~~

Colour Feast continues: Green man-made and natural Crystals

2011-03-21T19:29:00.001Z

It is time to continue the colour series: GREEN. I want you to drool over these lovely green colours that nature has created in crystals and also some man-made crystals which can be equally inspirational. These green shades make me want to take my brushes immediately and go to the easel to create something with these shades or imagine a lake, hidden deep in the forests, with waters just as these greens - wouldn't it be devine to dive into those?

(image sources:

diamondfireglass.com/crystals, minedirect.com
worldofrockhounds.com,blog.hmns.org
multiaxes.net, roses-and-teacups.com
mineralman.net, everystockphoto.s3.amazonaws.com
entertainment.webshots.com, lh6.ggpht.com
arkadiancollection.com, crystal-treasure.com
marinmineral.com, ncpedia.org
mysticmerchant.com, dave.ucsc.edu
marblekingusa.com, glasscaress.com
triz-beadingmania.blogspot.com)

Spring has arrived and the Colours come back...

2011-03-15T18:09:00.001Z

These are pics I shot yesterday and today. Spring has finally arrived and with it some lovely colours....

Rooms in Green

2011-03-04T19:30:00.002Z

Do you know what a green room is? No - it is not a room simply designed with green wallpaper or a green carpet, with a sofa in green and with green cushions. No - a green room has an entirely different meaning:

"In British English and American English show business lexicon, the green room is that space in a theatre, a studio, or a similar venue, which accommodates performers or speakers not yet required on stage. The green room functions as a waiting room, or as a touch-up lounge so that a performer need not return to wardrobe or to the dressing room, while remaining immediately available for a call to the stage. The origin of the term is often attributed to such an area historically being painted green, yet the modern "green room" is often not green at all.The specific origin of the term is lost to history, which has led to many imaginative theories and claims. One story is that London's Blackfriars Theatre (1599) included a room behind the scenes; this room happened to be painted green; here the actors waited to go on stage; and it was called "the green room." Some English theatres contained several green rooms, each ranked according to the status and the salary of the actor: one could be fined for using a green room above one's station

In addition to the preceding explanations, the term green room has also been attributed to numerous alternative folk etymologies, including the following" (I picked only a few which I found to be especially funny) (from Wikipedia):

Many actors experience nervous anxiety before a performance and one of the symptoms of nervousness is nausea. As a person who feels neauseous is often said to look "green", so the "Green Room" is the place where the nervous actors wait...

Some studies state that the green room was originally called the retaining room. The ensemble of a production would wait there for their appearance onstage, listening to the performance of the principal actors and critiquing their acting. When made aware of this practice, the leads began to call the retaining room the green room, mocking the (green) envy of these actors.

According to one theory, long before modern makeup was invented the actors had to apply makeup before a show and allow it to set up or cure before performing. Until the makeup was cured, it was green and people were advised to sit quietly in the green room until such time as the makeup was stable enough for performing. Uncured makeup is gone, but the green room lives on.

In Shakespearean theatre actors would prepare for their performances in a room filled with plants and shrubs. It was believed that the moisture in the topiary was beneficial to the actors' voices. Thus the green room may refer to the green plants in this stage preparation area.

In English theatres, a green floor-cloth was traditionally spread on the stage for tragedies. During the Restoration, when virtually all performances were comedies, the green floor-cloth for tragedies was stored in the actors' waiting room and used to deaden their footsteps so the sound of pacing actors would not disturb the performance. As tragedies were rarely performed, the green floor cloth became a routine fixture of the actors' lounge and the room became known as the green room.

In some theatre companies, the term green room also refers to the director's critique session held after a rehearsal or performance, since it is often held in the green room. This session is used for a pep talk, bonding among actors, and/or warmup exercises.

Green room is also a term for a room where plants are grown as the windows are made of glass, making it a perfect habitat for plants.

In the White House, the Green Room is one of three state parlors located on the state floor, it is traditionally decorated in green. (from Wikipedia)

But there are of course also green rooms which ARE designed in green shades and hues. Amazingly quite a lot of them although there hasn't been a single green hue nominated by Pantone since 2000 as colour of the year.

The choices from the fashion reports were different. There you could find a "vibrant green" and "kelp", the latter being rather a "khaki" green in the spring report of 2005. In the spring report of 2006 there was a "lily green" in their palette, in the fall report of 2007 appeared 2 green hues again: a "shale green" and a "green moss". In the spring report of 2008 appeared a "golden olive" and a "daiquiri green". In the fall report of 2008 Pantone said about "glady shade" that it delivererd a "natural elegance to the fall palette. Taking green in an interesting direction with its true green characteristics, this hue is a departure from greens of seasons past, which have had distinctively yellow undertones." In 2009 we suddenly had 3 green hues: "lucite green", "dark citron" and "vibrant green" again. This year's green hues are "peapod" for spring and "cedar" for fall.

So these are a lot of green hues for fashion. And there are a lot for room decorating which was really a surprise for me as I thought that green is not really a very common colour for interior design. But I was wrong.
The various examples of interior design with green are not meant completely serious - so please consider this collection with a little tongue-in-cheek...

(images are from: housebeautiful.com, apartmenttherapy.com, thefrencheye.blogspot.com, elizabethannedesigns.com, mahamudra.org.nz, chameleon-interiors.blogspot.com, bbonline.com, tobifairley.com, decoratingideakidrooms.com, thecornerhouse.co.za, soundandmotion.co.za, schusslerhouse.com, aliciabdesigns.blogspot.com, ffffound.com, hotels-paris-rive-gauche.com, niroproperties.com, simplifiedbee.blogspot.com, home-designing.com, mellonauditorium.com, marthastewart.com, stjohnshouse.com, theglamlamb.blogspot.com, eco-res.com, arhdecor.com, shelterness.com, tripadvisor.ie, decorinspiration.wordpress.com, fashionableinteriors.blogspot.com, alkemie.blogspot.com, couplanddancehall.com, blog.promove.com, housetohome.co.uk, travel.webshots.com, rosso-ubarri.com, maisondecor8.blogspot.com)

What is Green?

2011-02-27T11:51:00.004Z

I know - I am far behind my posts again. But I have some excuses. As I did not want to throw in just some meaningless words I need to find some time in between my other work to do some research and write about some things which might be of interest for you.

I want to continue with the series about the colour green. Let's go a bit into technical details i.e. into the rules of mixing colour and how the human vision works:

"Allegedly the physical world is achromatic. The human being can perceive light of various lengths between 400 and 700 nanometers as colours.Within the retina of the human eye there are colour sensitive photoreceptors in 3 different types. They are sensitive to 3 different wavelengths of the light, i.e. for short-wave, middle-wave and long-wave light. Short-wave light we see as blue, middle-wave light as green and long-wave light as red.

If the light is composed from two different wavelengths we will see cyan if the combination consists of short-wave and middle-wave light, yellow if we see a combination of middle-wave and long-wave light and magenta when the light is a mixture of long-wave and short-wave light. We will see white when all three wave-lengths are combined in equal parts and intensity. If no electromagnetic waves of the colour spectrum strikes the photoreceptors of the human eye (no light) we will see black.
This means the human eye has a maximum of 8 different extreme colour perceptions. They are the cornerstones and are therefore called the elementary colours."
(translated from http://www.ipsi.fraunhofer.de/~crueger/farbe/farb-wahr.html)

Red, yellow and blue make up the primary colours in a painter's colour wheel. This system, RYB is used in art and art related areas and was the prequel of the modern scientific colour theory.
But painters have always used more than the 3 primary colours and used green as the fourth primary although it is mixed from yellow and blue. Why is this so?

There are 2 major principles for mixing colours: additive mixing of colours and subtractive mixing of colours.When you use additive mixing you normally use light for mixing colours which are red, green and blue. When no colours are showing the result is black - when all colours are used the result would be white. Red and green create yellow, red and blue would turn into magenta. Additive mixing of colours is used in television and computer monitors.

(original image source: http://www.ipsi.fraunhofer.de/~crueger/farbe/farb-misch.html)

The second principle of mixing colours is called subtractive mixing.

"Subtractive mixing is done by selectively removing certain colors, for instance with optical filters. The three primary colors in subtractive mixing are yellow, magenta, and cyan. In subtractive mixing of color, the absence of color is white and the presence of all three primary colors is black. In subtractive mixing of colors, the secondary colors are the same as the primary colors from additive mixing, and vice versa. Subtractive mixing is used to create a variety of colors when printing on paper by combining a small number of ink colors, and also when painting." (after Wikipedia)

(original image source: http://www.ipsi.fraunhofer.de/~crueger/farbe/farb-misch.html)

Now comes the "paradox":
Additive colour mixing, f.e. red and green combined result in yellow, or blue, red and green making white seems to fight against the human common sense i.e. vision because anyone knows that if you mix yellow and blue paint you will receive a green paint! The reason for this is that the wavelengths of light that reach the eye are often selected through more intuitive subtractive processes: for example, cyan paint appears to our eye as cyan because it absorbs red wavelengths, and a yellow paint appears yellow because it absorbs blue wavelengths. But when white light falls on a combination of cyan and yellow, then, both red and blue are absorbed, and green is reflected to the eye. Complicated - isn't it?

One fact cannot be denied though: most painters include colours in their palettes which cannot be mixed from yellow, red, and blue paints, and thus do not fit within the RYB colour model. Really colourful greens, cyans, and magentas are impossible to mix, because red, yellow, and blue are not well-spaced around a perceptually uniform colour wheel (acc. to Wikipedia).

Let's look at some greens from the HTML chart codes and the appropriate names. These make clear that the naming of certain colours is really difficult and so is the determination if you don't have the codes available. The following colour fields also make clear that these colour shades and tints cannot be mixed as paints from yellow and blue paints in order to achieve the same values and brilliance. It is just not that simple.

If you look art the following image you will realize that actually "seagreen" appears much darker than the "dark seagreen". How can this happen other than being a mistake? I really don't know!

The following lighter shades of green do have a larger part of yellow - as you can easily see...

...while the second chart of the lighter versions of greens do contain more blues. Also here it seems hardly understandable why the value of the "light seagreen" seems to be higher than the "dark seagreen". Strange isn't it? The only explanation I have for this is that the eye perceives something different than a photometer does.

Here is another chart where you can see that there are some colours included in the "greens" that I personally would not count into this group but give them a separate grouping: the teals, aquas and turquoises.

(original images source: http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/GreenChart.asp)

Colours are an equally fascinating and difficult subject. Even if I work each day with colours as a painter I use them mostly in a very "emotional" way, hardly with the eye of a scientist. Nevertheless it helps a lot if you know at least some principles about colours in order to be able to find the right "material" for your own work, whether you are an artist, designer or work in any other colour related profession...

What I miss most: the Colour Green

2011-01-31T21:09:00.001Z

It is so much fun to research about colours - so what to choose next? I thought about what I would like to see at the moment i.e. what I miss most in winter times such as these when I look outside the window: there is no green, green, GREEEEEN. I miss green.

The word green is closely related to the Old English verb growan, “to grow”. It is used to describe plants or the ocean. So the colour green is the colour of life, the colour of the plants and of springtime and as such it symbolizes hope and immortality. In China the colour green represents the female Yin, the passive, receiving principle.

"The color green is the color of balance and harmony. From a color psychology perspective, it is the great balancer of the heart and the emotions, creating equilibrium between the head and the heart.
From a meaning of colors perspective, green is also the color of growth, the color of spring, of renewal and rebirth. It renews and restores depleted energy. It is the sanctuary away from the stresses of modern living, restoring us back to a sense of well being. This is why there is so much of this relaxing color on the earth, and why we need to keep it that way.
The color green is an emotionally positive color, giving us the ability to love and nurture ourselves and others unconditionally.

Green promotes a love of nature, and a love of family, friends, pets and the home. It is the color of the garden lover, the home lover and the good host.

Green is the color of prosperity and abundance, of finance and material wealth. It relates to the business world, to real estate and property. Prosperity gives a feeling of safety to green." (from Color Psychology).

But there are also negative aspects of the colour green such as:
the color green can be possessive and materialistic. Think of the common phrase "s/he was green with envy - a very negative reaction to the color green. Green is a color that apparently encourages us to want to own things, to collect and possess. It stands for money. Sometimes it can also describe someone who is inexperienced, jealous, or sick. One of my art works is a silk scroll that depicts one of the 7 deadly sins: it is called Greed

"Greed"

49" x 29", silk scroll

©Petra Voegtle

An art critic once described the background of this silk scroll so aptly as "sickly green" which expressed exactly what I intented.Green encourages materialism.

On the other side the phrase "we go green"´is related to the new environmental understanding and means something completely different. "Green energy", "green agriculture", "green production" etc. mean something completely different and is rather directed to less spending and wasting. So the colour green apparently seems to inhabit some paradoxa.

Green is a combination of yellow and blue, and thus the color green encompasses the mental clarity and optimism of yellow with the emotional calm and insight of blue, inspiring hope and a generosity of spirit not available from other colors.So green is considered to be rather a positive colour than negative.

What is really interesting is, how other languages treat the colour green. They simply have no definition or word for it:

"Quite a number of languages from countries, mostly in Africa, do not distinguish blue from black, while there are a handful of languages that do not distinguish blue from black but have a separate term for green. Also, some languages treat light (often greenish) blue and dark blue as separate colours, rather than different variations of blue, while English does not.

According to Brent Berlin and Paul Kay's 1969 study Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution, distinct terms for brown, purple, pink, orange and grey will not emerge in a language until the language has made a distinction between green and blue. In their account of the development of colour terms the first terms to emerge are those for white/black (or light/dark), red and green/yellow.
Many languages do not have separate terms for blue and green, instead using a cover term for both (when the issue is discussed in linguistics, this cover term is sometimes called grue in English). For example, in Vietnamese both tree leaves and the sky are xanh (to distinguish, one may use xanh lá cây "leaf grue" for green and xanh dương "ocean grue" for blue). In the Thai language, เขียว (khiaw) means green except when referring to the sky or the sea, when it means blue; เขียวชอุ่ม (khiaw cha-um), เขียวขจี (khiaw khachi), and เขียวแปร๊ด (khiaw praed) have all meant either intense blue or garish green.

Chinese has a word (qīng) that can refer to both, though it also has separate words for blue (lán) and green (lǜ). The Korean word (pureuda) can mean either green or blue. In Japanese, the word for blue (ao) is often used for colors that English speakers would refer to as green, such as the color of a traffic signal meaning "go". Some Nguni languages of southern Africa, including Tswana utilize the same word for blue and green. In traditional Welsh (and related Celtic languages), glas could refer to blue but also to certain shades of green and grey; however, modern Welsh is restricting glas to blue and using gwyrdd for green and llwyd for grey. Similarly, in Irish, glas can mean various shades of green and grey (like the sea), while liath is grey proper (like a horse). In Old Norse the word blå was also used to describe black (and the common word for people of African descent was thus blåmenn 'blue/black men'). In Swedish, blå, the modern word for blue, was used this way until the early 20th century." (after Wikipedia)

So no matter what you call green who could deny that the following greens (in our language) are reviving for the eye and soothe our soul?

(all photos ©Petra Voegtle)

Who would not love all these hues and shades of green??? Btw - the Easter bunny is already waiting...

Some more Colours to drool over

2011-01-23T18:48:00.000Z

I thought before I continue my detailed series about various colours I give you some more to drool over - later in the year when then plants and the flowers are all out it is sooooooooooo ordinary -

(all photos ©Petra Voegtle)

These are the Colours I am missing now...

2011-01-15T21:55:00.001Z

It is only midth of January but I am really already fed up with winter. What I hate most is the dark days when the sky is all clouded and it is rainy. You do not want to get out of bed because it is so dark - simply depressing.
Although it is currently quite mild the sun hardly gets out if at all. I want to see these...

(all photos ©Petra Voegtle)

What are YOU missing right now?

Rooms and Art dipped in Purple

2011-01-07T17:15:00.001Z

Astonishingly a lot of rooms have been designed in and around the colour purple. But then 2 purple hues, Purple Vine and Cashmere Rose were the Pantone Fashion colours of 2007 - so I shouldn't be astonished at all. Additionally you can find lots of silk brocades and other textiles in purple although I have always thought that this colour is generally used very sparsely because it is such a strong colour.

Used in accessories such as cushions and tableware the colour certainly becomes an intriguing design element.
Rooms designed in all kinds of purple hues and shades make a strong statement although sometimes a bit less would be better - not?

(images are from following websites:

cocomale.com, modern-interior-decoration.blogspot.com, harmonyandhome.blogspot.com, julianinterior.com, homeinteriordesigndecoration.blogspot.com, thebusinessofcolor.blogspot.com,homedit.com, homes-interior.com, shinedesign.blog124.fc2.com, homeinfurniture.com,chictip.com, patriciagrayinc.blogspot.com, trend-dir.com, decorati0n.com, arhzine.com,besthousedesign.com, blogcatalog.com, best-interior-design-home.blogspot.com)

Although I do not use the colour purple very much in my art work you still can find a couple of purple splotches in my paintings. I think it is time to create some more...

The Purple Feast continues - natural and man-made Crystals

2011-01-05T21:53:00.000Z

I have a great love for all sorts of crystals - be it real ones from the mineral section or glass. Like a kid I am somehow fascinated by everything that is transparent and actually lives from light. And so the idea was born to do some research on purple crystals etc.

This is what I found - a lovely collection of transparent and shiny little things in various shades of purple - which I find could be highly inspirational for any creative person:

(images are from following websites:

owall.net, powerofthecrystals.com, witchcraft-supplies.com, radaris.com, flickr.com,

aliexpress.com, dazzlingdecorhire.com.au, ioffer.com, shoponline2011.com, studiosoft.it, traderscity.com, tradeindia.com, theblackcatcloset.com, skywalker.cochise.edu,

bestcrystals.com, mineralminers.com, crystal-treasure.com, mysticmerchant.com,

fany.savina.net, corunduminium.com, marinmineral.com, taosinstituteforglassarts.org)

Nature's Purple Feast - Blooms and Blossoms

2011-01-02T19:07:00.006Z

After so many colour codes and colour wheels etc. I think it is time to concentrate on the natural purples you can find in blooms and blossoms...

Some examples for deep purple:

Examples for medium purple:

Here are some examples for the Munsell purple:

And here comes the royal purple:

Here is another example for the x11 purple:

And finally some examples for the tyrian purple:

(all photos ©Petra Voegtle)

Of course nearly every bloom of these examples contains various hues and shades of purple. This feast of colours is Mother Nature's treasure, which never ceases to be the largest well of inspirational colour creations...

Purple - the Colour of Clergy, Kings and Witches

2010-12-25T17:08:00.004Z

Do you love purple? I do - especially the dark shades of purple (which is here Tyrian Purple). But what is purple at all? Again not so easy if your consider all the hues that belong to the family of purples.

Purple - the colour - lies between red and blue. Depending on the quantity of pigments, its tints and shades, it either tends to the range of violets or the range of magentas and pinks.

In history the original purple was in fact Tyrian Purple, a colour which was extracted from sea snails. The first people who used this process were the ancient Phoenicians.
Tyrian purple was extremely expensive. Therefore it was no wonder that only the clergy and the royalty could afford to use this in their textiles. Additionally early sumptuary laws dictated and forbade the use of purple dyed textiles which became status symbols for anyone other than it was destined for. In Byzantium the production of shellfish purple was tightly controlled and even subsidized by the imperial court, which restricted its use for the colouring of silks for imperial use (after Wikipedia).

Recently, the archaeological discovery of substantial numbers of Murex shells on Crete suggests that the Minoans may have pioneered the extraction of Imperial purple centuries before the Phoenicians. Dating from collocated pottery suggests the dye may have been produced during the Middle Minoan period in the 20th–18th century BC (after Wikipedia).

Purple is associated with power, both earthly and spiritual. In healing, purple is used for mental disorders and also for becoming one with Spirit. In the aura purple signifies higher spiritual development. Purple is the color of the imagination. It can be creative and individual or immature and impractical. Following are some quotations about the psychological impact of purple:

"The color purple relates to the imagination and spirituality. It stimulates the imagination and inspires high ideals. It is an introspective color, allowing us to get in touch with our deeper thoughts."

"While the violet is not quite as intense as purple, its essence is similar. Generally the names are interchangeable and the meaning of the colors is similar. Both contain the energy and strength of red with the spirituality and integrity of blue. This is the union of body and soul creating a balance between our physical and our spiritual energies.
Purple or violet assists those who seek the meaning of life and spiritual fulfillment - it expands our awareness, connecting us to a higher consciousness. For this reason it is associated with transformation of the soul and the philosophers of the world are often attracted to it."

"In the meaning of colors, purple and violet represent the future, the imagination and dreams, while spiritually calming the emotions. They inspire and enhance psychic ability and spiritual enlightenment, while, at the same time, keeping us grounded."

"From a color psychology perspective, purple and violet promote harmony of the mind and the emotions, contributing to mental balance and stability, peace of mind, a link between the spiritual and the physical worlds, between thought and activity. Violet and purple support the practice of meditation."

"The color purple is specifically associated with royalty and the nobility, creating an impression of luxury, wealth and extravagance.
Purple has power. It has a richness and quality to it that demands respect. Purple is ambitious and self-assured, the leader.
Too much of the color purple can promote or aggravate depression in some. It is one color that should be used extremely carefully and in small amounts by those who are vulnerable to these depressed states."

"Positive sides include unusual and individual, creative and inventive, psychic and intuitive, humanitarian, selfless and unlimited, mystery, fantasy and the future.
Negative sides include immaturity, being impractical, cynical and aloof, pompous and arrogant, fraudulent and corrupt, delusions of grandeur and the social climber." (after http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-purple.html)

Here are the two basic colour blocks of purple - one dark, one lighter, different hues and values:

Another diagram of the purple range is this one:

(from Wikipedia)

You will realize that I excluded the lighter hues of this diagram in the above purple range because I feel that these belong to other hues and shades. DFA7E4 f.e. you would not call "purple" as standing alone colour - would you - but rather "plum".

(Btw - Munsell purple is named after the Munsell colour system. And the X11 purple comes from the first versions of Mosaic and Netscape Navigator which used the X11 colors as the basis for the Web colors list, as both were originally X applications - see Wikipedia).

(from Wikimedia)

Here is a chart of the basic purples via http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/purplechart.asp)

Basic Purples

Color	Hex	Decimal	Co#	Description
	800080	128,0,128	1	Deep Purple
	330033	51,0,51	2	Very dark purple
	6633CC	102,51,204	3	Purple
	663399	102,51,153	4	Purple
	6600CC	102,0,204	5	Dark Purple-blue
	660099	102,0,153	6	Royal Purple
	9966CC	153,102,204	7	Lavender
	9900FF	153,0,255	8	Periwinkle
	FF00FF	255,0,255	9	Pink / Fuscia
	9999CC	153,153,204	10	Purple-gray
	CC99FF	204,153,255	11	Lilac
	CC99CC	204,153,204	12	Light Plum
	B030D8	176,48,216		Orchid

(diagram from http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/purplechart.asp)

Interesting are also the psychological views on the variations of purple (the artificial ones - because there is a big difference between natural and artificial/HTML colours):

Variations of the Color Purple/VioletMauve: Mauve helps us to make the best choices and decisions; it is concerned for justice to be done and always does the right thing. On the other hand it can indicate a degree of commonness, the social climber aspiring to higher ideals.
Lavender: Lavender is attracted to beautiful things. It has a fragility, sensitivity and vulnerability to it.
Lilac: Lilac (or light purple) implies immaturity, superficiality and youthfulness. It is extroverted and enthusiastic, inspiring glamour, romance and vanity.
Amethyst: A mystical color, amethyst opens intuitive channels. It protects the vulnerable and assists the humanitarian. It is the color of the evolved soul.
Plum: An old-fashioned color, plum is honorable and linked to family traditions. It is also prudish and narrow-minded, always preaching at you.
Dark Purple: Dark purple is related to higher spiritual attainment. A powerful color, it can also indicate arrogance and ruthlessness." (after http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-purple.html)

Rooms and Art dipped in Orange - Inspirations galore

2010-12-13T19:47:00.000Z

During my research on the Internet and other media I realized that it is not quite easy to find rooms completely designed in orange shades and tones. Rather than finding orange walls accentuated with different colour furnishing and art you will find rooms accentuated with orange objects.

Why is this so? Potentially because most people find orange being one of the strongest colours at all and therefore fear the domination of this colour that pushes everything else too much into the background. But there are multiple methods to play with the colour orange and you will see that in the end you'll see some rooms which are warm and comfortable, light and not dominant at all...

(images from House Beautiful, The Peak of Chic Blog,

New England Design & construction, Gloria K. Rothfeld,

home decor design tips, Zabola, Housewears, Propeller Island)

The art work I am creating surprisingly contains quite a lot of orange tones, different values and shades. Hence this is the reason, because I am not consciously a friend of orange myself. Although my palette regularly contains earth colours in subdued shades it also shows quite a few orange splotches, which I find quite interesting:

The last painting was a complete new experience for me as this is painted in a colour I would normally not use in this pureness...

The natural Colour Orange

2010-09-18T21:17:00.006+01:00

Now it's time for Mother Nature's colour palette of orange shades and you can judge yourself where you would classify them to red or orange. Not quite easy sometimes - the more pics you see the more difficult it becomes...
Nonetheless I hope you'll enjoy this firework of orange and red colours and how much more inspiration do you need?

(click on the photos to enlarge)

(all photos ©Petra Voegtle)

Colour Orange continued - the artificial Colour Codes

2010-08-20T18:00:00.006+01:00

You think colours are a simple subject? Not so! You will see why...

When you have to determine colours it becomes quite complicated after a while. The difficulty starts when you have to identify a colour that comes from natural sources. Perception is often undefinable and depends on adjacent colours.

You would not believe how differential people react to a colour and how they would define it. What is still orange and what is already red, or still yellow? Also it is difficult to find pure colour in natural environments - but let's start with the "easier" ones: the colour codes of the electronic medium - the computer or rather the codes of the HTML language.

The colour range for the orange (in HTML definition) merely consists only of 3 colours - the 4rth does not belong (or rather supported by description) officially to the oranges as you can see from the name:

And here it starts already. Depending on your monitor and its settings these colours will appear differently on your computer.

It is in fact a different hue although at first glance it seems to belong to the same range! But you can check this by looking at your monitor from different angles. Now you see why the determination of a colour is so difficult.

Here is a nice chart of the Basic Oranges:

Basic Oranges

Color	Hex	Decimal	Co#	Description
	FF9933	255,153,51	1	Pumpkin
	CC6600	204,102,0	2	Sienna / Orange - brown
	663300	102,51,0	3	Dark Chocolate Brown
	FF6600	255,102,0	4	Orange
	996600	153,102,0	5	Golden Brown
	FF9900	255,153,0	6	Light Orange
	CC9900	204,153,0	7	Mustard seed
	CC6633	204,102,51	8	Brick / Red-brown
	FF7C80	255,124,128	9	Pink
	FF6633	255,102,51	10	Tomato soup
	FFCC66	255,204,102	11	Light mustard
	FFCC99	255,204,153	12	"Flesh"

(after http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/OrangeChart.asp)

Now let us find the codes for the following images:

The colour codes are:

You will realize that - what we call orange - already has a different hue from the original pure HTML colour orange - clearly indicated by a different hex code.

In the image above we have 4 different hues of orange - indicated by hex code. The 5th colour, represented through #ee1100 apparently is no orange any more although one might identify this colour as an orange hue without knowing the hex code.

Would you have thought that the same orange hues are included in the images above?

You see - not a single image contains the pure colour code of orange - all images contain different hues of orange.

(all colour palettes have been created with the Color Palette Generator from DeGraeve.com)

The Blog continued with the Colour Orange

2010-07-29T17:28:00.001+01:00

I just decided to contine this blog. Colours are my life - without colours I will not be an artist. The posts may appear sporadically and I have to think about a guideline for myself but we will see what happens. I also spent so much time on this blog, collecting all those wonderful motifs and colours, that it would be a shame if I stopped sharing them.

I thank all my readers for their motivation and maybe you will find the one or other image you might like.

Starting with one from my balcony - the colour of the Clivia:

Orange

I found a very strange psychological explanation for the colour Orange in a German description (translated and abbreviated):

"Orange symbolizes the unappealing, the sweet, aromatic, the refreshing, the cheap, the flashy, the extrovert, the trendy, the loud, closeness, fun, cheerful, sociability, pleasure, gluttony, energy, activity, excitement, warmth, desire.

Orange has always been an exotic colour in Europe although sunset and sunrise are orange. Orange has a cheap appeal because many objects in orange are plastic. There are no natural materials which are orange, therefore the colour orange sends the signal of being cheap. Through advertising campaigns and certain product design the image of the colour did not improve - on the contrary. People combine pushiness and swaggering with orange.

But the colour orange also has a positive character. It's the colour of the amusing, pleasure, sociability. Orange is a combination of light and warmth. Orange creates a pleasant atmospheric environment. It is not as dazzling as yellow and not as sultry as red. Orange is the colour of the fire etc."

What is your attitude towards orange?

Clivia Miniata (Amaryllidaceae),
Riemenblatt, Bush Lily
~~~

I don't know what to do...

2009-10-17T17:15:00.004+01:00

This could be the last...

After so many months of trying to make this blog interesting and valuable I realize that it is obviously not worthwhile to really to be continued. I am probably not giving this up completely but apparently people have no real interest in blooms and blossoms, colours shown in intriguing environments. The amount of photography blogs running through the internet is simply too high even if the content of many blogs could be "neglected".

Well - simply looking at my stats I must say that all the work is not worthwhile to be continued if no-one likes to see it. I have so many tasks on my plate that I really need to set priorities and I decided to concentrate rather on my art and design tasks than wasting precious time for private pleasure only - - because pleasure it was, to collect all those photos and share them with one or two viewers.

Never mind....

The Variety of Surfaces

2009-09-22T15:37:00.003+01:00

photography ©Petra Voegtle
.

Pumpkin Colour Compositions

2009-09-12T13:48:00.004+01:00

Mother Nature chose these compositions...

photography ©Petra Voegtle
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It's Pumpkin Time

2009-09-05T12:39:00.013+01:00

I am going to flood you with colours - the colours of pumpkins. Let's start with the "common" sight of orange...

photography ©Petra Voegtle
.

Colours of an Insect's Cloth

2009-09-01T12:39:00.004+01:00

It looks like cloth, cloth made from tree bark fibers as it is still common in various remote areas of our world. But this has been made by an insect, tree wasps and it is the structure of their nest. Incredible colours and incredible pattern - simply beautiful. Photographed backlit...

photography ©Petra Voegtle
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Graffiti

2009-08-28T18:02:00.005+01:00

You must admit - no matter whether you despise graffiti or not - the colour compositions of some graffiti are exceptional....

photography ©Petra Voegtle
.

Time for the Berries

2009-08-19T14:20:00.005+01:00

photography ©Petra Voegtle
.

The Colours of Rust

2009-08-08T17:55:00.003+01:00

photography ©Petra Voegtle
.

Sacred Colours

2009-07-30T18:15:00.004+01:00

photography ©Petra Voegtle
.

Colours on Walls

2009-07-26T15:42:00.006+01:00

photography ©Petra Voegtle
.

Colours of Bark

2009-07-24T18:26:00.006+01:00

photography ©Petra Voegtle
.

What we miss during the cold Season: Colour

2009-07-22T18:13:00.003+01:00

photography ©Petra Voegtle
.

The way all Things go...

2009-07-21T11:58:00.006+01:00

photography ©Petra Voegtle
.

Surfaces like Water...

2009-07-19T10:19:00.008+01:00

all photography ©Petra Voegtle
.

A new Title...

2009-07-15T19:14:00.011+01:00

From now on this blog will be called

In Terms of Colour

enroute with the camera

.

Cherries in white...

2009-07-13T18:08:00.003+01:00

"cherries"

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
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Apple Blossoms

2009-07-12T18:00:00.009+01:00

"apple"

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
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Magnolia

2009-07-11T21:20:00.002+01:00

"Magnolia"

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
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Yellow Azalea

2009-07-10T18:09:00.007+01:00

"Azalee (Rhododendron)" (Ericaceae),
azalea

daily photos from Munich, photography by Petra Voegtle
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Pink Apple

2009-07-09T01:37:00.000+01:00

"pink apple"

daily photos from Munich, photography by Petra Voegtle
.

Lilac

2009-07-08T17:25:00.004+01:00

"Syringa" (Oleaceae)
lilac, Flieder

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
.

The Feast of the Wisteria...

2009-07-07T18:15:00.007+01:00

Even when I am risking you to become bored with endless photos of wisteria I also think there a fans out there who appreciate these images because this climbing plant is just too beautiful to be neglected. Even when the blossoms are gone the foliage of this plant is beautiful because it is so graceful and the special green hue is exceptionally fresh for the eyes...

"Wisteria" (Fabaceae),
Blauregen

daily photos from around Munich - photographed by Petra Voegtle
.

Apple Tree Blossoms in magical Light...

2009-07-05T11:23:00.005+01:00

Appletree blossoms are undeniably beautiful - as all blossoms are. They are the latest to arrive in the year when cherries and magnolias and all other are gone.
To photograph them the best is to look for special lighting, when the sun is not quite on the blossom but is coming from the side or from behind. Then you can notice how transparent these blossoms are and how magical. I cannot stop looking for these scenarios...

"apple blossoms"

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
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An unknown Beauty....

2009-07-04T15:36:00.007+01:00

Can anyone help here please? I have researched the Internet but haven't found it. I have no idea what this delicate beauty is. It looked awesome, backlit by the sun, so incredibly graceful. But I have never seen a plant like this one...

"unknown" - not any more
"Cornus Florida"
dogwood, Blütenhartriegel

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
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Lilac Blossoms in all Shades...

2009-07-03T21:35:00.005+01:00

This was quite an unusual lilac bush - the blossoms appeared in all kinds of violet hues - simply wonderful. This would make a marvellous model for painting and learning how to mix colours...

"Syringa" (Oleaceae)
lilac, Flieder

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
.

A very special Composition...

2009-07-02T16:28:00.007+01:00

Have you ever seen magnolia and pink cherry trees blooming side by side? Here in Munich it was an unusual view this year. Normally these trees don't bloom at the same time. So this sight was truly devine. And as usual it was gone much too quickly. But at least I have the images for you to enjoy...

cherries and magnolia

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
.

Peony - the Queen of all Blooms...

2009-07-01T15:37:00.009+01:00

Aren't these blooms to die for? It is not easy to catch them at the right moment - I mean sometimes you have other things to do and you cannot go on tour each day to check whether there is anything for the lens. Sometimes the weather is just too ugly at the time when these blooms should appear in their full magnificence and heavy rain means definitely their death sentence. But sometimes you are lucky and you are there at the right place at the right moment...

"Paeonia" (Paeoniaceae)
peony, Pfingstrose

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
.

More Peony Dreams in Pink and White...

2009-06-29T08:44:00.006+01:00

I just could not hold back some more images of these beautiful blooms. The time for their glory is just too short so it is invaluable that we have the techniques to keep their beauty forever - thanks to photography....

"Paeonia" (Paeoniaceae)
peony, Pfingstrose

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
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Peony Dreams....

2009-06-27T22:22:00.007+01:00

Peonies belong to my absolutely favourite blooms. Not only the forms and colours of their blooms are so beautifully romantic but their perfume is pure heaven. I could stand there for hours and bury my nose in their petals forever...

"Paeonia" (Paeoniaceae)

peony, Pfingstrose

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
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A Wall Creeping Beauty in Pink...

2009-06-26T14:10:00.003+01:00

Did I tell you that I love Clematis? You rarely see them here and I don't know why. They just need full sun but the climate should not be the problem. Strange.
There are so many variations but I did find only 3 or 4 different versions. Again strange. They make such a lovely climber, their leaves look so delicate and their blossoms are just lovely. Maybe I have to look around more...

"Clematis" (Ranunculaceae)

Waldrebe

daily photos from Munich, photography by Petra Voegtle
.

An amazing Composition...

2009-06-24T18:10:00.007+01:00

This year I was lucky to photograph this lovely compostion of two different cherry blossoms. Normaly you either find the light one OR the dark ones but rarely 2 of them together in one picture...

"cherries"

daily photos from Munich, photography by Petra Voegtle
.

A Forest of Lilacs...

2009-06-23T17:40:00.009+01:00

Sometimes it is amazing - you live somewhere and somehow you miss entirely what peculiarities you can find there. I mean I cannot recount how often I have passed this area with the lilac growing like a forest. It should have jumped into my eyes but apparently it did not - or - I have passed this area only when the lilac was not in full bloom.

This year I made it, although the weather was not so nice to shoot great photos - but you get the point. The scent was breathtaking - clouds of lilac perfume went straight into your nose - I still can remember that when I look at the images - can you smell it too....?

And don't forget to click on the images - they are large!

"Syringa" (Oleaceae)
lilac, Flieder

daily photos from Munich, photography by Petra Voegtle
.

Lime Trees in Bloom...

2009-06-22T11:28:00.005+01:00

Lime trees in Munich are in full bloom now and the wind carries their perfume everywhere. It arrives in little clouds full of scent even on my balcony on the 13th floor. How I love this scent! It is heavy, sometimes nearly austere because it is so strong.

I wonder how often people look at these trees which are so common here and really appreciate this lovely smell and their beautiful little blossoms. They ARE beautiful, hanging in real clusters from their stems, each of them carrying a little crown made of filaments...

"Tilia" (Malvaceae)
lime tree, Linde

daily photos from Munich, photography by Petra Voegtle
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Pink Splendour...

2009-06-21T16:33:00.008+01:00

Is this a yummy colour or not? I love this deep pink. Trees look so lovely when they are covered in these thousands of blossoms. What could be more beautiful? I only wished it would last longer than just the 2 weeks or so when you can enjoy all those natural miracles. We have to wait for sooo long to see these again. But at least I have the photos to enjoy whenever I want to...

Btw - I have a problem here - I actually could not find out what this tree is. Do YOU know? I found out: these are apple trees!

"apple"

daily photos from Munich, photography by Petra Voegtle
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Snow white Bushes but no Snow...

2009-06-20T16:58:00.005+01:00

I love these bushes, covered by tiny white blossoms allover. Each year again they are the signs that spring has definitely arrived. This year they bloomed together with forsythia and thus created lovely compostions in some areas. See here.

Although one could think - if you don't look close - that these bushes are somehow covered by snow - and they sometimes get covered by snow in our region - their scent talks a different language. Bees and other insects love these bushes and their buzzing is somewhat soothing.

"Spiraea" (Rosaceae)
spirea, Spierstrauch

daily photos from Munich, photography by Petra Voegtle
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Plushy yellow Bushes...

2009-06-19T18:23:00.006+01:00

These bushes with the plushy yellow blossoms you can see here everywhere in spring. The colour is the pure sun just like sunflowers. It is as if they bring back the sunlight and bees love them as you can hear their buzzing allover.

"Kerria japonica" (Rosaceae)
Ranunkelstrauch

daily photos from around Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
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More pink fluffy Balls...

2009-06-18T20:22:00.004+01:00

I truly hope that I do not bore you with just some more of these wonderful, amazing fluffy blossom balls. Each year I am standing there in awe, wondering how this is possible, this incredible burst of new life after the hiatus of a long long winter with nearly no colours, with that awfully cold and wet weather and days where you do not see the sun. I very much hope that you can share all that enthusiasm with me because this is what life is all about - the wonders of our nature, our beautiful planet.

It is not the kick you might experience through skydiving or bunjee jumping, go on a race with a racing car or any other of these activities. It is not the kick you get through taking drugs or filling you up with any buzz, it is not spending your nights in bars and clubs or travelling through the world as far away as possible. It is not the most extravagant house you can own or being part of renown societies.

Life is where possessions and desires end, life is where things grow on their own, where you need not do anything about it. Life is where you experience the smallest and the largest of all things, life is where you discover the universe within yourself and where happiness is unconditional.

Now imagine a world without all these blooms and blossoms, without the happy chirping of all the birds that can be heard right now. What a world would that be?

cherries

daily photos around Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
.

The Alley of the Cherries...

2009-06-17T22:21:00.005+01:00

I am photographing this alley each year and each year it is different. Sometimes the blossoms are rather small and hang in small groups from the branches and sometimes they are thick, fluffy and seem to be much too heavy for the branches just as this year. A majestic view, a miracle of Mother Nature...

cherries

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
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Before they disappear into Oblivion...

2009-06-16T10:57:00.005+01:00

It somehow makes me always sad when the magnolia are gone - I mean the blossoms not the trees. It makes me melancholic because then it comes to my mind that spring is over here in our region, summer - if there is one - is short and soon starts the fall season which is not too bad of course for a colour freak such as I am and when the weather is gracious. BUT... spring time, in all its glory and new hopes is by far the best. What's your favourite season?

"Magnolia"

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
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Look close...

2009-06-15T12:05:00.008+01:00

How often do we oversee the little things? We pay attention to things which are rather obvious, which jump into your face. Often you have to look really close in order to see the peculiarities of little things - in this case tiny blossoms.

I have visited this very same bush a couple of times. It has become a personal issue! But still - I somehow don't like this bush - you want to know why? Each time I am standing in front of it to photograph its tiny blossoms I am devoured by ants. So this is the ant bush for me. Apparently they consider me as an intruder into their home. And who could blame them for this?

People who might have watched me not only cycling through the same little streets for the 100th time in order to photograph the same gardens for the 200th time certainly will assume that I am nuts, jumping from one foot to the other like a loony - to get rid of the ants again who try to conquer my legs. But then I AM nuts, my aunt was it too. So what?

And don't forget to click on the photos - they are large!

"Berberis" (Berberidaceae)
barberry, Berberitze

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
.

More Peonies from last Year - in lovely Pink

2009-06-14T15:36:00.005+01:00

I somehow missed to show you these blooms as well. I love peonies so very much and tried once to grow them on my balcony - but it was a disaster - not enough sun and probably they are just not meant to grow in a pot.

So the only thing I can do still is photographing them, rummaging again neighbours' gardens and see how lucky they are with their treasures. And - oh my - there are quite a few...

Look at that pollen on the bloom - doesn't it look like pure gold powder? If I only could transfer the perfume via the computer...

"Paeonia" (Paeoniaceae)
peony, Pfingstrose

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
.

White Peonies from last Year...

2009-06-13T19:09:00.003+01:00

I somehow missed to show you the peonies I photographed last year - they were exceptionally beautiful:

"Paeonia" (Paeoniaceae)
peony, Pfingstrose

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle
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More creeping Colours...

2009-06-13T09:09:00.005+01:00

That makes your heart jump - doesn't it? I could stand in front of these and just suck in those colours in order to not forget them ever again....

"Aubrieta" (Brassicaceae)
wallcress, Blaukissen
and other (?)

All photos are from Munich - photography by Petra Voegtle
.

Creeping Phlox - another Colour - all in Pink

2009-06-13T01:15:00.001+01:00

Now this one is the last of the collection for the moment - lovely little flowers, jewels in your garden....

"Phlox douglasii"
creeping phlox, Polsterphlox

daily photos from Munich, photography by Petra Voegtle
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The Colour Feast of Creeping Phlox continues...

2009-06-12T18:08:00.004+01:00

The colour feast continues - here is another colour of creeping phlox which I find absolutely fascinating for its intensity - but judge for yourself...

"Phlox douglasii"
creeping phlox, Polsterphlox

daily photos from Munich, photography by Petra Voegtle
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The Colour Spectacle of Creeping Phlox...

2009-06-10T13:39:00.005+01:00

I promised you to show more of "my" (unforunately they are not mine - I just mean the photos) little garden flower jewels and here they are - in hot pink or light purple, depending on your monitor. I just love this dramatic colour - do you?

"Phlox douglasii"
creeping phlox, Polsterphlox

daily photos from Munich, photography by Petra Voegtle
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An aristocratic Wall Decor...

2009-06-08T18:28:00.006+01:00

I absolutely love these little flowers which form these wonderful colour spots on walls and in rockeries. They glow from the distance and can be found in many variations. They are the little jewels of the garden...

"Phlox douglasii"
creeping phlox, Polsterphlox

daily photos from Munich, photography by Petra Voegtle

And after White comes Pink...

2009-06-07T12:40:00.007+01:00

There is not much to say about these colour intense blossoms trees - only that the whole glory disappeared too quickly this year, much too quickly...

daily photos from Munich, photographed by Petra Voegtle