not just in shapes, but in vibrant hues and shades
With Chromatic Gratitude
Over the years since embarking on this colorful journey, Project Color has been enriched by the observations and encouragement of countless individualsâfriends, colleagues, fellow artists, and generous strangers who took the time to engage with my chromatic explorations. What some might view as "naive color choices" or "simplistic palettes," these individuals recognized as authentic expressions of personal vision and emotional truth.
Their feedback has been transformative. When I questioned whether my color interpretations were "correct" or sufficiently sophisticated, it was their responses that reminded me: color is not about technical accuracy aloneâit's about feeling, memory, and personal perception. They saw beyond conventional color theory to appreciate the emotional narratives embedded in each gradient, shadow, and highlight.
One friend went beyond verbal encouragement, carefully curating a selection of my colored drawings and transforming them into a printed book and calendar. This profound gesture brought my digital color experiments into physical realityâobjects that could be touched, displayed, and experienced throughout the seasons. Their curation revealed how others perceive and value these chromatic choices in ways I had never imagined.
The Language of Color
To my art teachers, both formal and informal, who introduced me to the vocabulary of colorâ the warm embrace of reds and oranges, the cool serenity of blues and greens, the mysterious depth of purples and indigos. You taught me that every hue carries meaning, every shade tells a story, and every gradient holds an emotion.
In transitioning from the monochromatic world of Project Drawing to the chromatic exploration of Project Color, I discovered that adding color wasn't simply about filling in shapesâit was about awakening memories in new ways. A sunset becomes not just a composition of circles and gradients, but a specific evening remembered through its unique palette. A tree is not merely brown and green, but carries the particular tones of a season, a mood, a moment in time.
Those who provided constructive feedback on my color choicesâsuggesting adjustments, questioning my palettes, encouraging bolder or subtler approachesâhelped me develop not just technical skill but chromatic confidence. They taught me that there's courage in choosing unexpected colors, power in trusting instinct over convention, and beauty in colors that reflect personal truth rather than photographic accuracy.
The Spectrum of Support
In a culture often dominated by perfectly calibrated digital photography and color-corrected perfection, it takes courage to present hand-chosen, personally interpreted color palettes. The community that formed around this project taught me that color selection is deeply personalâit reveals not just what we see, but how we feel, what we remember, and who we are.
These colored drawings became more than exercises in vector art; they became a chromatic autobiography. Each piece of feedbackâwhether celebrating bold color choices or gently questioning subtle gradientsâbecame woven into the project itself, shaping not only the drawings but my understanding of color as a language of memory and emotion.
To everyone who encouraged these chromatic experiments, who shared their perceptions of my color choices, and especially to the friend who believed these colored drawings deserved to exist beyond the screenâthank you. You transformed this from a solitary exploration into a shared celebration of how we each see and remember the colorful world around us.
This project stands as testament to the power of community in creative work, the value of personal color vision, and the importance of trusting that our individual ways of seeing the world in color have meaning and beauty worth sharing.