Into the Blackness

During my color fundamentals class today, I spent two hours mixing shades (adding black and white), tones (adding black) and tints (adding white) to the color blue. It's all part of a four-part assignment we are doing with the color wheel. It brings to mind something Minnie Pearl once said (through a story told by Amy Grant). They were talking about the dark periods in your life that are difficult - divorce, death of a loved one, financial pains - and how everyone goes through them at some point or another. During the conversation between Minnie and Amy, Minnie asked her to think about a painting. Without the blacks, or dark shades or tones of colors, there is no depth to a painting. So those dark periods are there to add depth to your life (i.e. character building).

So as I continue to mix those colors, I think of how the shades and tones are working to create depth in my paintings...and the dark places in my life have created depth in my character.