light and color

5.24.14 ~ Stonington, Connecticut
sidewalk garden ~ 5.24.14
Stonington Borough, Connecticut

We live in a world of color. All nature is color: white, black, and grey do not exist except in theory; they are never seen by the eye – they could only exist in a world that was colorless. Such a universe is beyond imagination: a world without color would be a world without light, for light and color are inseparable.
~ E. Ambrose Webster
(E. Ambrose Webster: Early Modernist Painter)

12 thoughts on “light and color”

    1. Perhaps this is why I have such a hard time telling my black socks apart from the dark blue ones – the “black” ones are another shade of blue…

  1. Good perspective ! It was not until I began really seeing through my photography that I would begin to “see” this. I was given the shades of color, not just red, blue, green, etc…
    It is through the light and shadow…

    1. Jeff, I found this quote in a book about the Provincetown painter, E. Ambrose Webster (1869-1935), Tim’s great-granduncle. He started Ambrose Webster’s Summer School of Painting, and was a founding member of the Provincetown Art Association. It’s so interesting to me that you and Jane, both artists, concur with Webster’s observation.

    1. I remember one day I was startled while watching a decorating show on HGTV – the designer asserted that brown was simply a shade of orange.

  2. “…for light and color are inseparable.”

    This makes me think of Light (as in Source Energy) and Color (as in animation; personality; that which makes us uniquely individual).

    I love the floral arrangement in the seat of the chair!

    1. What a wonderful thought, Laurie, so much unity in the diversity of color and individuality!

      We were eating breakfast at a new-to-us restaurant and saw this arrangement on the street from our table by a window. I came back the next weekend with my camera to get the picture!

    1. So pleased you loved the quote and the little sidewalk garden, Diane! It is amazing how color can lead our eyes to an ordinary little scene…

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