All Yellow

For a couple of weeks I’ve had the song ‘Yellow’ by Coldplay, running in the background of my mind. I don’t even know the song’s lyrics, but the words ‘it was all yellow’ kept repeating themselves. The colour was calling me. I began noticing many yellow objects around me like fruit, dishes, materials and packaging. I thought about how I find the use of yellow areas in paintings difficult. How rare it is to see paintings dedicated to yellow. Pure yellow in a painting looks like a light is turned on. I recognised a learning challenge for myself.

Perhaps I began noticing yellow things because of our rainy winter coming to an end. Perhaps my bones need warming. I began collecting yellow things and putting them together to warm my soul. I wanted to dedicate a couple of paintings to yellow to befriend this precious colour. In doing this painting I’ve learned so much about variety within yellows, how yellow can be pulled into different temperature nuances through mixing with blues to cool it down, purples to grey it out, while browns and reds give warm shadows. These nuances make yellow shimmer and enhance its glow. I included the upside down white ceramic baking dish (that the flowers sit on top of) because I wanted to study the reflected light and how different yellows would bounce around. Experience like this can be hinted at through words, so I invite you dear reader to let your eye travel through this painting on a yellow ride. Who could have thought that a song running through my mind, bugging me, was actually calling me into such a fascinating wormhole of study?

What does yellow evoke for you friend?