colour

today I went to the Art Gallery of NSW and saw "The Sydney Moderns" exhibition. I loved the "colour music" works of Roy de Maistre - I think these would translate well to textiles. like weaving sounds and colour. he did a lot of work based on synaesthesia. I was at the gallery with my sister and 10 month old niece, who was very excited - singing and dancing in the gallery - so we walked quickly through the exhibition so as not to disturb others viewing the works. I hope to go back and see it again and spend some more time looking at the paintings. De Maistre also did some paintings based on the colour wheel.

I've started reading a book by Victoria Finlay called "Colour: A Natural History of the Palette" where she travels and describes how some colours in art have been lost, beginning with a memory of her father telling her how the blue used in the stained glass windows in Chartres is no longer available. (some other sites now say it hasn't been lost). I found an audio interview with Finlay on the ABC website.

yesterday I saw an article called "The Colorful Stories of 5 Obsolete Art Pigments" which describes five pigments which have disappeared from art: Maya Blue, Tyrian Purple, White Lead, Lapis Lazuli, Dragon’s Blood with an update of another three: Mummy Brown, Indian Yellow, Scheele’s Green. the article is continued in another article, "More Vibrant Tales of Obsolete Pigments".