Classic Colors: Romanticism

Romanticism was a key movement in the counter-enlightenment and a propagator to a drastic shift in art to an emphasis in intuition, imagination, and feeling. While it may have led to some Romantic thinkers being accused of irrationalism, these were the perfect conditions to redefine the use of color.

Coming off the back of ideals from the french revolution, and breaking from the realities of the industrial revolution, "Romanticism elevated the achievements of what it perceived as misunderstood heroic individuals and artists that altered society. It also legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority which permitted freedom from classical notions of form in art."

Post a comment

Vintage Color & Design: Valentine's Day Cards

While it can be a little nauseating searching through all the cutesy, cuddly, blush-colored cards, I did find some, thankfully, with surprising palettes of unexpected colors. There are even a few that don't use red at all. Thanks goes to riptheskull for sharing their collection of 1,722 Valentine's Day cards.

The Valentine dates back to the 1400's where handmade version were first exchanged in parts of Europe. As early as the 1800's valentines began to be mass produced and have since been grossly commercialized, but i'm sure it was all for love.

Post a comment

Colorful Ideas For St Valentine's Day

This is a guest post written by speakin_colors to help us all come up with some colorful ideas to share with our loved one this Valentine's day.

Historically speaking, Valentine was a Roman priest martyred under the emperor Claudius. While in prison, Valentine fell in love with Julia, a blind young girl who was the daughter of his jailer. One day, due to the miracle of love, Julia recovered her eyesight. The day Valentine was executed, on February 14th 270, he sent a setter to her beloved which romantically read "From your Valentine", a phrase which was going to be popularized in the course of time.

Romantic Ideas for Valentine's Day

The surprise element is the key to revive passion and to spend an unforgettable day. Common traditional gifts are valentine cards, flowers and chocolate. Roses, for example, come in a wide range of colours but it must be remembered each different colour has a different meaning. Colours definitely sends a silent, yet extremely important message, from the sender to receiver. So, before selecting roses for someone the following chart (from The Gardener's Network) should be consulted to make sure the right message is conveyed!

Photo by teachastrid

Meanings of Rose Colors

• Red: Love, beauty, courage and respect


• White: Purity and innocence, silence or secrecy, also reverence and humility


• Pink: Appreciation,"Thank you", grace, perfect happiness, and admiration


• Dark Pink: Appreciation, gratitude


• Light Pink: Admiration, sympathy


• Yellow: Joy, gladness, friendship, delight, the promise of a new beginning


• Orange: Desire, and enthusiasm


• Red & White: Given together, these signify unity.


• Red Rosebud: A symbol of purity and loveliness


• White Rosebud: Symbolic of girlhood


• Thornless Rose: Signifies "Love at first sight".

Chocolate must be considered as that dark, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth treat that, while not exactly a love potion, is almost universally loved. Nutritionally speaking, evidence suggests that chocolate is replete with substances that may actually improve one's mood. First of all, it comes from the seed of the theobroma tree and theobroma is Greek for "food for the gods". Apart from being a rich source of antioxidants, chocolate contains anandamide, a fatty substance normally produced in the brain which induces feelings of euphoria. In addition, chocolate contains phenylethylamine, a stimulant which can improve the mood of depressed people. Phenylethylamine is the chemical released in the brain when people become infatuated or fall in love, hence the aphrodisiac character of chocolate. By the way, chocolate roses wrapped in red metallic paper make an extraordinary gift for Valentine's Day.

"you're so c12h22o11 (sucrose)" ; Photo by samk

Other less conventional gifts include shower gels, body splashes, massage oils with chocolate or cherry aromas (to set a mood towards relaxation and romance), heart-shaped sachets filled with organic lavender, a teddy bear with a red or pink ribbon tied around it, a sexy pair of silk pajamas or even a heart-shaped chocolate box with its content removed and filled with an item of jewelery.

An intimate dinner ideally combines pleasure and privacy. It must be remembered that few men actually pay attention to detail so any excess could be labelled as cheesiness.

A valentine card on the table or a path of rose petals leading to the dining place (or to a spot where a special present is hidden) adds a touch of sensual mystery to the occasion.

Photo by riptheskull

As regards to clothing, women must remember that sometimes suggesting is better than explicit sexiness. A classic Chanel cocktail dress - black, short, sleeveless and extremely feminine - supplies a simple but very effective alternative. Neutral tones, such as white, grey or camel, are advisable for men.

Lighting is essential. Candles on the table, on the floor and all around the place provide the necessary amount of magic. Also appropriate for the occasion are silver-plated candle holders with motifs of angels, ceramic Cupid napkin rings and circular wax candles floating in coloured water inside tall wine glasses.

To create a different atmosphere, colourful strips of tulle can be wrapped around lamps. Another creative idea is to use coloured electric bulbs to replace transparent ones.

Photo by mark sebastian

Having a moonlit dinner in the garden (or either in the balcony, or on a terrace) can be an interesting idea.

Music adds its own colour to a passionate evening: a romantic ballad or even a serenade can be the ideal complement for an unforgettable night.

It is better not to choose very complicated or elaborate dishes if cooking is not one's cup of tea. Dinner must be both attractive to the eyes and pleasing to the stomach, therefore it is important to avoid spicy food and to offer soft flavours instead. Sauces made with edible flowers (such as violets, roses, calendulas and apple blossoms) certainly make original recipes totally suitable for the occasion. Flower blossoms can also be used to garnish some dishes for an innovative touch of colour and elegance. Certain foods having a well-gained reputation as aphrodisiacs are asparagus, almonds, avocados, basil, bananas, carrots, garlic, ginger, honey, nutmeg, oysters, pine nuts, pineapple, raspberries and strawberries.

A romantic evening cries out for a good red wine. In Italy, a red wine is called rosso. In France, it's rouge. And in Spain, it's tinto. The best varieties are cabernet sauvignon, merlot and zinfandel.

cryptogram

Any dessert that can be shared and eaten with the hands or which can allow spoon feeding can be considered a romantic instance. Chocolate-dipped strawberries and cherries as well as heart-shaped cakes rank highest. An after-dinner coffee with shreds of chocolated sprinkled on top provides the finishing touch.

It is a well-known fact that Cleopatra used incense to seduce Mark Anthony. Likewise, cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, aniseed and sandalwood can be used as sparks to ignite passion. A fruity mix of pears, lime plums and apricots or a floral combination of jasmines, roses, gardenias and peonies (or simply aromatic candles or incense sticks) can prove to be very effective.

Final words:

It must be born in mind that all these details lose their significance if the subject of conversation is not in keeping. Talk must revolve around relaxing topics (such as books, music, movies or travelling). Problems or disturbing issues, such as politics or household repairs, must be avoided. The only language that must be spoken that night (more than ever) is the universal jargon of love.

This guest post was written by speakin_colors.

Header image by yozzi

Post a comment

Colors Of The Lantern Festival

Officially ending the Chinese New Year the Lantern Festival is held on the fifteenth day of the first month in the lunar year in the Chinese calendar. During the Festival, colorful lanterns light up night skies all across the world.

Photo by See You, Jimmy!

History of the Lantern Festival

The 15th day of the 1st lunar month is the Chinese Lantern Festival because the first lunar month is called yuan-month and in the ancient times people called night Xiao. The 15th day is the first night to see a full moon. So the day is also called Yuan Xiao Festival in China. According to the Chinese tradition, at the very beginning of a new year, when there is a bright full moon hanging in the sky, there should be thousands of colorful lanterns hung out for people to appreciate. At this time, people will try to solve the puzzles on the lanterns (which often contain messages of good fortune, family reunion, abundant harvest, prosperity and love) and eat yuanxiao (glutinous rice ball) and get all their families united in the joyful atmosphere.

Photo by Marufish

Early Origins

There are many different beliefs about the origin of the Lantern Festival. But one thing for sure is that it had something to do with celebrating and cultivating positive relationship between people, families, nature and the higher beings they believed were responsible for bringing/returning the light each year.

Photo by weegolo

One legend tells us that it was a time to worship Taiyi, the God of Heaven in ancient times. The belief was that the God of Heaven controlled the destiny of the human world. He had sixteen dragons at his beck and call and he decided when to inflict drought,storms, famine or pestilence upon human beings. Beginning with Qinshihuang, the first emperor to unite the country, all subsequent emperors ordered splendid ceremonies each year. The emperor would ask Taiyi to bring favorable weather and good health to him and his people. Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty directed special attention to this event. In 104 BC, he proclaimed it one of the most important celebrations and the ceremony would last throughout the night.

Photo by conan06; Photo by weegolo

Another legend associates the Lantern Festival with Taoism. Tianguan is the Taoist god responsible for good fortune. His birthday falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. It is said that Tianguan likes all types of entertainment. So followers prepare various kinds of activities during which they pray for good fortune.

Young people were chaperoned in the streets in hopes of finding love. Matchmakers acted busily in hopes of pairing couples. The brightest lanterns were symbolic of good luck and hope. As time has progressed, however, the festival no longer has such implications.

Photo by See You, Jimmy!

Later History

Until the Sui Dynasty in the sixth century, Emperor Yangdi invited envoys from other countries to China to see the colorful lighted lanterns and enjoy the gala performances.

By the beginning of the Tang Dynasty in the seventh century, the lantern displays would last three days. The emperor also lifted the curfew, allowing the people to enjoy the festive lanterns day and night. It is not difficult to find Chinese poems which describe this happy scene.

Photo by riNux

In the Song Dynasty, the festival was celebrated for five days and the activities began to spread to many of the big cities in China. Colorful glass and even jade were used to make lanterns, with figures from folk tales painted on the lanterns.

However, the largest Lantern Festival celebration took place in the early part of the 15th century. The festivities continued for ten days. Emperor Chengzu had the downtown area set aside as a center for displaying the lanterns. Even today, there is a place in Beijing called Dengshikou. In Chinese, Deng means lantern and Shi is market. The area became a market where lanterns were sold during the day. In the evening, the local people would go there to see the beautiful lighted lanterns on display.

Photo by See You, Jimmy!

Today, people still enjoy the brightly lit night. Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, for example, holds a lantern fair each year in the Cultural Park. During the Lantern Festival, the park is literally an ocean of lanterns! Many new designs attract countless visitors. The most eye-catching lantern is the Dragon Pole. This is a lantern in the shape of a golden dragon, spiraling up a 27-meter-high pole, spewing fireworks from its mouth. Other places, like Hangzhou, Shanghai and alike economically advanced cities adopted electric lantern or neon lantern beside traditional paper or wooden lantern.

Photo by gorbould

Sky Lanterns

Sky Lanterns are airborne paper lanterns traditionally found in East Asian cultures. They are constructed from oiled rice paper on a bamboo frame, and contain a small candle or fuel cell composed of a waxy flammable material.

Photo by Kyle~

When lit, the flame heats the air inside the lantern, thus lowering its density causing the lantern to rise into the air.

Photo by ??????

The Sky Lantern is only airborne for as long as the flame stays alight, after which the lantern floats back to the ground. They can achieve quite a height and launching them in strong winds is not recommended.

Photo by Kyle~

Header Photo by TingChang

Text quoted from wikipedia

Post a comment

Eclectic Color Roundup

Here's a roundup of the most colorful art, products, websites and such that I've come across in the last week.

Interior

'Clouds' for Kvadrat by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec

kvadratclouds.com; bouroullec.com

"'Clouds' is a colorful concept that evolves as you add elements to it, producing a three-dimensional effect, coating architecture in a fluid yet chaotic way."

Wallpockets by Ampersand

ampersandbrand.com

Both storage and decoration, Wallpockets simple geometric shapes made by folding cardboard and attaching them close to each other on the wall in whatever position you like.

Art

Chris Cobb: 'There is Nothing Wrong in This Whole Wide World'

Richard Hutten; Strawberry Fields Project

Check out this great hand knotted wool carpet design by Richard Hutten. Great work, and it reminded me of our post on how to create a single pixel palette from a photo.

Via yatzer

The Depth by Edgar M

Post a comment

Interior Design Trends: Blue+White

Two calming colors combined, white and blue; serene, refreshing, fun and beachy. Just thinking about these two colors makes me think of the summertime down at a beach house. Perhaps these hues where chosen due to my longing for the warm summer weather or the need to wind down and relax. For whatever reason, I feel that these are a nice comforting combination of colors. What are your thoughts on these two colors?

Post a comment

New Art From India & Pakistan

An exhibition that recently opened at Philips de Pury & Company takes a look at new works coming from India & Pakistan and sets out to give an overview of the current Art trends by answering the ambitious question "what is 'Indian' in 'Indian Art' and what cultural exchanges are implied in the asking?" With such an interesting context and impressive catalog of work, I thought this show would be a good sources for some color inspiration. Below you can find a selection of work from the show. More images are available at the exhibition page.

The Audience and the Eavesdropper

The Audience and the Eavesdropper will present a selection of works by each artist to convey the strength and breadth of each individual ouevre. Together, these works depict a nuanced, complex portrait of the themes and trends emerging under the banner of "Contemporary Indian Art". This ambitious exhibition asks, what is "Indian" in "Indian Art" and what cultural exchanges are implied in the asking? These artists work in a variety of media including painting, sculpture, video, installation and design and draw from multiple cultural and artistic histories. The vast majority of the artwork has been created specifically for this show and Phillips de Pury & Company is proud to be the first to exhibit these works.

Hema Upadhyay

Institutional and museum attention for Indian contemporary art has initially fallen onto the shoulders of many commercial venues to promote and exhibit this new frontier in contemporary art. This exhibition enables the introduction and exhibition of a new, exciting and highly influential group of artists from South Asia, many of whom have never shown outside the region. An exhibition catalogue will accompany this highly anticipated show.

Samarendra Raj Singh

Artists showing: Anita Dube, Thukral & Tagra, Justin Ponmany, Samarendra Raj Singh, Raqs Media Collective, Hema Upadhyay, Rashid Rana, Sheba Chhachhi, Probir Gupta, Hamra Abbas.

Samarendra Raj Singh

The Audience and the Eavesdropper asks us to identify the burgeoning audience for these contemporary artworks from India and Pakistan: who is the designated audience and who is the fortuitous eavesdropper? Furthermore, the exhibition title points to the artists' role as cultural producers from the Indian subcontinent, but producing from an international position. Inevitably, these works grapple with the strands of postcolonial dialogue marking India's history. As these artists initiate new dialogues in the global art community, the critical reception has been enthusiastic and promising.

Probir Gupta

Says Veronica Collins, Contemporary Specialist at Phillips de Pury & Company, "These works inevitably confront ideas of globalization in the contemporary art world and look at how cultures are borrowing from each other. The title begs the question: Is it the artists who are 'eavesdropping' on Western developments or is it the West that is 'eavesdropping' on the new trends in Asia?"

Thukral & Tagra

A major exhibition highlight from the Indian art stars Thukral & Tagra addresses these issues through Now in your neighborhood, 2008, a pointed reference to mass cultural consumption. The collaborators Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra draw from pop culture, history and street -life in a giant Dinosaur created entirely from pink squeeze bottles stamped with custom stickers depicting "everyday people" in silhouette. The familiar bottles, at home in supermarkets and pharmacies around the world (holding toilet bowl cleaner, shampoo, dishwashing detergent, etc.) are transformed by the artists from innocuous consumer products to a more menacing form: the seductive yet empty promises of consumerism.

Thukral & Tagra

Thukral and Tagra describe the work as "A new gigantic shopping experience which offers all new products in your city! From institutions to monster malls, schools to cinemaplexes, picnic parks to vinyl playgrounds in the malls, they come in all forms to rule our world. They are glamourized, restless and coming soon." The artists then sign off tongue in cheek: "Your friendly neighborhood Dinosaur."

Raqs Media Collective

Raqs Media Collective

Anita Dube / Rashid Rana

Hamra Abbas

Probir Gupta

Images from Philips de Pury & Company

Post a comment

Color Definitions From The Photographic Dictionary

As lovers of color we tend to be lovers of all types of visual communication. So, when I came across The Photographic Dictionary project "dedicated to defining words through the literal, figurative, and personal meanings found in each photograph" i though it would be a good idea to share their visual definitions of different colors, and since they don't have that many yet, a few other non-color examples as well.

More Definitions

Source: The Photographic Dictionary

Anyone can submit to the photographic dictionary, email submissions to thephotographicdictionaryt@gmail.com for consideration.

Post a comment

The Colors Of Chess

Chess has had a long and colorful history since its beginnings in the 6th century. And ever since the creation of the game the board and game pieces have been a continuous source of inspiration for artists who year after year create new interpretations. Here is a look at chess's place in history and culture along with some historically and artistically important sets.

History

Early

Chess originated in India during the Gupta empire, where its early form in the 6th century was known as catura?ga, which translates as "four divisions [of the military]" - infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry, represented by the pieces that would evolve into the modern pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively. Both the Persians and Arabs attribute the game of chess to the Indians. In Sassanid Persia around 600 the name became shatranj and the rules were developed further. Shatranj was taken up by the Muslim world after the Islamic conquest of Persia, with the pieces largely retaining their Persian names. In Spanish "shatranj" was rendered as ajedrez, in Portuguese as xadrez, and in Greek as zatrikion, but in the rest of Europe it was replaced by versions of the Persian sh?h ("king"), which was familiar as an exclamation and became our words "check and chess". Murray theorized that this change happened from Muslim traders coming to European seaports with ornamental chess kings as curios before they brought the game of chess.

wikipedia; Iranian chess set, glazed fritware, 12th century.

The game reached Western Europe and Russia by at least three routes, the earliest being in the 9th century. By the year 1000 it had spread throughout Europe. Introduced into the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors in the 10th century, it was described in a famous 13th-century manuscript covering shatranj, backgammon, and dice named the Libro de los juegos.

DIA; Rock Crystal and Smoky Topaz Chess Set and Board, around 1525, Germany

Another theory contends that chess arose from the game xiangqi (Chinese Chess) or one of its predecessors.

Modern

Around 1200, rules of shatranj started to be modified in southern Europe, and around 1475, several major changes made the game essentially as it is known today. These modern rules for the basic moves had been adopted in Italy and Spain. Pawns gained the option of advancing two squares on their first move, while bishops and queens acquired their modern abilities. This made the queen the most powerful piece; consequently modern chess was referred to as "Queen's Chess" or "Mad Queen Chess". These new rules quickly spread throughout western Europe, with the exception of the rules about stalemate, which were finalized in the early 19th century.

wikipedia; Original Staunton chess pieces by Nathaniel Cook from 1849

Writings about the theory of how to play chess began to appear in the 15th century. The oldest surviving printed chess book, Repetici