In the eye of the beholder
What I see is one thing. What you see is everything!
I woke up yesterday morning and saw a combination of colours in my mind's eye: red, black, yellow, white and teal. The colours were solid and simple, straight lines, understated.
As I rarely get a distinct vision of something, I decided to put what was in my head on canvas. It took me half the day, in between sessions of working on a large commission, to get it done.
I posted the quick iPhone snap of it on my Russell Thomas Art Facebook page, then felt compelled to take an archival photograph of it and digitally place it in a room.
I then posted it with the question of what I should call it, on Facebook, Instagram and this morning on Twitter. Over 100 suggestions have come in so far.
Some people clearly see a character called Cartman (South Park) and can't get it out of their heads.
Others see a pencil.
One lady asked: "Is it wrong that I see a freshly made bed?"
There were also many deeper, more profound, interpretations:
Beneath the Surface
Tax Time: mostly in the RED
Red Sun Rising
Paradigm
My working title was "Red Earth Teal Sky".
What's clear to me is that everyone is going to see what they see. How I see it, or even name it, is secondary to the individual's experience of looking at it.
With that in mind, I'm going to name it in such a way that the viewer gets to decide.
I woke up yesterday morning and saw a combination of colours in my mind's eye: red, black, yellow, white and teal. The colours were solid and simple, straight lines, understated.
As I rarely get a distinct vision of something, I decided to put what was in my head on canvas. It took me half the day, in between sessions of working on a large commission, to get it done.
I posted the quick iPhone snap of it on my Russell Thomas Art Facebook page, then felt compelled to take an archival photograph of it and digitally place it in a room.
I then posted it with the question of what I should call it, on Facebook, Instagram and this morning on Twitter. Over 100 suggestions have come in so far.
Some people clearly see a character called Cartman (South Park) and can't get it out of their heads.
Others see a pencil.
One lady asked: "Is it wrong that I see a freshly made bed?"
There were also many deeper, more profound, interpretations:
Beneath the Surface
Tax Time: mostly in the RED
Red Sun Rising
Paradigm
My working title was "Red Earth Teal Sky".
What's clear to me is that everyone is going to see what they see. How I see it, or even name it, is secondary to the individual's experience of looking at it.
With that in mind, I'm going to name it in such a way that the viewer gets to decide.
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| What do you see? 18" x 36" acrylic on canvas |
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