Firstly focusing on the preface of Batchelors The Luminous and the Grey I found the initializing of the argument to be about how and why colour exists in the world around us.
“It is not the presence of colour in a work that matters but the use of that colour; it isn’t whether the colour is there that is at stake but what that colour does” – p.17
This got me thinking about where colour resides in the natural environment and asking myself: does it interest me?
What interests me about colour in the natural/rural landscape is the vividness created when the intensity of the sun shines onto/though it. More on that later…
For today, though I thought I would focus on surface colour, as that is highlighted in the preface. Instinctively it is the colours of chemical manufacture that interest me most; those vivid in hue and with strong saturation. Whilst residing in a rural landscape I wondered what the juxtaposition between natural colour and artificial colour would look like.
I also wanted to make a start by playing and involving my hands (baring in mind it was now Wednesday and the week seemed to be flying by) . I systematically wrapped from top to bottom green cotton thread around a dying plant. At first I just wrapped one, but then decided that in order to make an impact and become noticeable I would do several; this took me all day.
By the end of the day I was satisfied with what I had done, but also felt that I wanted to learn more and so read on.
Today’s work was futile in its longevity but useful in its concept. It did what I wanted and thought it might do, It got me going. However small, however insignificant in the grand scheme of things, it was a beginning, and everything has to start somewhere.
