the real thing

can you see these colours? they are brilliant in their differing hues and saturations. the closer you look the more shades are revealing. now i want you to imagine the original as this is nothing but a reproduction on your computer. this is a very reduced version of the colours on the page i got in front of me. it is 1/1000th of the original. even less. 
how can you measure infinity? we expose ourselves to this very narrow colour spectrum that computer screens and print media produce. we get used to it. we start to take this as the benchmark. but it is not and can never be. colours are infinite! there are a million shades of blues. of greens. look at a tree. look at a single leaf. i mean: really look look - your eyes will get showered with countless hues and blends and fades and shades of colours. because it's you who makes these colours. literally. in the retina of your eye. art is happening as much on the paper as it is happening through and within the viewer. so even though i may be the one to make the artwork, i'm nothing but pointing towards a reality which you have to see and feel and experience within yourself. 

burnt pebble beach red

the water colour i'm using is called 'burnt sienna'. it comes from england. the pigment comes from italy. the binder comes from goddess knows. i bought the little tube in a shop in hong kong. from a person i've never seen before. so little to relate to. i'm going to the pebble beach. the sun is warming my face. i'm finding smooth stones washed up by hundreds and hundreds of waves. some are round bricks: a deep red colour like 'burnt sienna'. i scrape them to dust the same way my children do. i pour and filter the dust and mix it with water into a paste. a warm red tone that includes my sweat, the sound of the waves and the warmth of the sun. so beautiful and intimate and part of my life. i name the colour 'burnt pebble beach red'.