World of Colour, Shades of Grey

Pictured here is the WIP (work in progress) for a composition that was finally titled 'Stained Glass Window'. Behind it was the idea that a life of fine lines created a different perspective, and thus a completely new reality.
On its own, here in plain graphite, the work was appealing through the shading and form alone, and I received a lot of positive commentary from the public, even before it was completely finished.

In the final  composition, I added colour to further divide realities - rose-coloured glasses came to mind as I worked, the expansion of the balance of perception; the extremes of the spectrum and the choice in between.

My reasoning for the use of colour in art is based on its purpose in the overall composition - I rarely make the choice to work in colour for the sake of colour alone. It comes down to whether or not I believe it will make a greater emotional impact; often the softer greys and blacks are dream-like enough that the need for colour is unwarranted, and there's the fact that it allows for the imagination of the audience to add to the image themselves.


In my paintings, I have a greater affinity for colour in the work because painting for me is a different kind of journey. Creating a storybook feel and un-reality through the colour choices that I make allows for emotional values and provocations that I don't achieve with the graphite.... sometimes I feel like two different artists, given the changes in the process for each medium. And then of course there's the fact that colour mixing has far greater possibilities in paint than it does in pencil....