
From my very first introduction to the history of art, I was mesmerised by colour and the magical world that it opened up for me. My designs are inspired by all types of subject
matter but the essential and constant vehicle of visual communication has always been colour for me. I would go so far as to say that I think in colour.
In my early days of design training, I revelled in every aspect of the theory of colour and whilst some were impatient to crack on with what they considered the more exciting business of making design, I lovingly painted out my colour wheel using carefully mixed gouache paints during my first week at Central St. Martins.
Quite frankly, I would have continued for the entire first year had I been allowed.
Those early experiences of not only the practical use of colour in my art, but also the depth of theory behind its composition is endlessly fascinating to me and has spurred a love of all artistic styles that draw on colour at their core. I will be talking lots more about movements in modern 20th-century art that inspire me but for now, let’s share these tear-inducing words……..
UNWEAVING THE RAINBOW by John Keats, Lamia, 1819
….Do you not all charms fly
At the mere touch of cold philosophy? There was an awful rainbow once in heaven: We know her woof, her texture; she is given In the dull catalogue of common things. Philosophy will clip in angels wings, Conquer or mysteries by rule in line,
Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine – Unweave a rainbow.Sonia Delaunay, Electric Prisms, 1913
ANGELIKA KAUFFMAN
Self Portrait as ‘Painting’ c.1779
