Many years ago, when I was still very small, I was told that if I wanted to remember the colours of the rainbow I could learn a few words, which were these: “Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain”. So of course when I did find a rainbow I was amazed to discover that the colours came out in the order indicated in the phrase: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet.
It was probably not until I started to actually mix colours that I began to realize there is a lot more to colours than any nursery school teacher can tell you.
Fast forward to a year or so going to school in Jamaica, where my art teacher was from Edinburgh in Scotland. She made us go into the school grounds, which were lush and green and filled with a variety of plants that grew on the borders of the usual cement and black asphalt around the school building. We were to pick a stem, or a leaf, or a piece of bark. We carried our pieces of plant into the art room and were then told to mix the colours that we saw there.
I had selected the stem of a plant, which I was told to cut across. I noticed there was a lot of white there. I complained, that perhaps I should go out again and look for a flower. I was told to look again and to mix the colours that I saw there.
This may have been the first time that I became interested in the colours that lie between the colours. It is easy enough to see the ones we learn about in primary school. But I know that I can see the colours between the red, blue and yellow, and can now separate out the colours I need to use when looking into a shadow. It is not only that I have been taught how to do this by friends, teachers and books or websites, it is because I have had to look and evaluate, and either paint what I actually see or exaggerate for some reason that is hidden deep within the layers of our creative consciousness, or between the hairs of a fine art paint brush.
This brings me to the website: rosemaryallisondigitalprints.
Some time ago I wanted to send a small painting as a wedding present to my niece. I am living in Italy and there are restrictions about sending artwork abroad. I am no Leonard Da Vinci, or Michelangelo, or even a Picasso or Rosa Bonheur or Georgia O’Keeffe. I am simply Rosemary who wanted to send a small painting by post from Italy to the USA. I wanted to do it the right way and fill out all the forms they tell you to fill out for customs. Yes it was a painting, on canvas; yes I was the author of the work. The painting came back to me twice. In the end, the man behind the counter at the post office looked at me and said, “Well, you could just send it express mail.” So I did, without any form, nothing, and my painting arrive safely and in record time.
The point is, that it is very frustrating for an artist who is living up the side of the mountain, among sheep and deer, and who wants to get their work out into the world and become even slightly known. So, thank goodness for the Internet.
Here, then, is my website with my paintings rosemaryallisondigitalprints. You can choose what ever you want and, for a small fee, you can download the painting of your choice as a digital print and have it printed on paper, or canvas, or a coffee mug.
Just to add that this website is thanks to Internet Marketing Synergies, I think they have done an excellent job, but we are still in the start up phase, so get in touch with me on my contact page if you see how we can improve something, or want to ask me a question related to the site or my work.
In the up coming posts, I will be looking at the colours, one by one, as they appear in the phrase: Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain.