New Blog Series -The Psychology of Colour

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BLUE

Blue light exposure can positively affect cognitive performance…

Bluebell Wood, Suffolk – Hugo Richardson

The Source of Blue

The origin of blue for use in art colouring came from the Ancient Egyptians, who created the first blue pigment as far back as 2,200BC.  Sand, ground limestone and copper-containing minerals, like malachite or azurite, were heated to high temperatures for blue in art.

However, alternative thoughts believe that the richest blue on earth is called ultra-marine, which means ‘over-seas’.  In Britain’s case, this means the Mediterranean Sea, literally the sea at the ‘middle of the earth’.

Ultramarine blue can be made from lapis lazuli. Lapis lazuli is normally a mixture of three minerals including lazurite (very complex blue mineral), calcite (calcium carbonate, which is white) and pyrite (an iron sulphide that is white gold in colour).

The finest lapis lazuli comes from Badakhshan.  The mines, on the precipitous walls of the upper Kokeha Valley, in North Eastern Afghanistan, have been worked for more than 6,000 years.

Lapis lazuli was not just used in paint, but four and a half thousand years ago, a pair of lapis-and-gold goats were placed in the royal cemetery of Ur in Mesopotamia. It was used on the Afghan Buddhas of Bamiyan, dated to the 6th century AD.

Around three-and-a-half thousand years ago, lapis was used to adorn the golden funeral masks and jewellery of the pharaohs.

Blue in a Business Context

Blue sky thinking is the thought process of limitless creation beyond conventional thought, limitless like the blue sky.  This type of thought requires a group of people that need to think outside the box in a ‘brainstorming way’.  The activity should not be constrained by the limits of practicality.

Exposure to blue light can positively affect cognitive performance, alertness and reaction time.  The colour blue is often used to decorate offices, because research has shown that people are more productive in blue rooms.

Blue calls to mind feelings of calmness and serenity.  It is described as peaceful and tranquil, secure and orderly.

Blue very well may improve sports that are reliant upon team work and decision-making.

Colour-chakra theory from Hindu scriptures adds: blue raises metabolism; is used to stabilise the heart, muscles and bloodstream; used to treat burns (methylene blue), skin diseases, glaucoma, measles and chicken pox and throat problems.

However, blue light, by raising metabolism, can decrease sleep quality and duration.

The River Stour, Early Saturday Morning – Hugo Richardson

Blue is calming, relaxing and healing but not as sedentary as indigo.

Jeanne Kopacz is an interior design professional and author of  ‘Colour in Three Dimensional Design’.  Kopacz suggests “the sight of the colour blue causes the body to release hormones when it is surveyed, particularly a strong blue sky.  Many believe blue can lower blood pressure, slow the pulse rate and decrease body temperature”.

Positive Associations (source, Envato Pty. Ltd.):

Trust, Loyalty, Dependability, Logic, Serenity, Security

Negative Associations:

Coldness, Aloofness, Emotionless, Unfriendliness, Uncaring, Unappetising

NEXT WEEK,  The Psychology of Colour: RED

Calm Morning Mist, Image Captured During Covid – Hugo Richardson

Turner and the Elements – Earth

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Castle Ruins and Small Village Landscape, Joseph Mallord William Turner, c. 1798-1799

Joseph Turners work can be viewed at:

https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain/display/jmw-turner

Mountains, Crags and Rocks

“Roughness forms the most essential part of difference between the beautiful and the picturesque”  William Gilpin (1724-1804).

In the second half of the eighteenth century, the English clergyman and author William Gilpin formulated an aesthetic theory of landscape.  This was published in 1786.

Opinions of landscape design formed a “picturesque” debate.  Lancelot “Capability” Brown and Humphrey Repton represented one side of the spectrum.  They were in contrast to the ideas of William Gilpin and Richard Payne.

Landscapes by Brown and Repton are characterised by undulating expanses of grass and hills, broken up by clumps of trees and serpentine lakes to impress serenity.  This style required dramatic landscape alterations; an endless number of trees would be cut down, and an entire village would be relocated in the name of “improvement.”

Gilpin preferred rugged and moody landscapes that could also invoke the sublime. Gilpin observed that the appearance of the landscape changed depending upon the clouds and the quality of light.

Turner’s interest in the element of earth must be looked at in the context of contemporary developments in landscape painting in Britain.

Gilpin published his observations and encouraged British landscape artists to pursue atmospheric phenomena. He illustrated this contention in watercolours that brought the landscape to life through the use of chiaroscuro.

The fine art term chiaroscuro comes from the Italian words that roughly translate to light and dark.  Chiaroscuro technique is employed in the visual arts to represent light and shadow as they define three-dimensional objects.  Turner followed Gilpin’s example in exploring British landscapes.

Here are some ‘monochromatic’ samples of the chiaroscuro method:

Mountain Peaks, Alexander Cozens, c. 1785

Alexander Cozens work can be viewed at https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/alexander-cozens-118 

Castle End Farm, Luscombe, Richard William Conway-Jones, 1988

Richard is a contemporary artist, his work can be viewed at:

http://www.conway-jones.co.uk

From a personal perspective, my approach to photography has been, as much as is possible, that of an artist.

I feel drawn to the mountains of Wales, Scotland and the Lake District. This Scottish landscape photo below shows trees growing where God and nature has decided. The picturesque stark mountains that reach the sky are easier to capture when the light is less intense.  I hope you can appreciate Gilpin’s ‘atmospheric phenomena’.

Blair Atholl, Looking towards Killiecrankie circa 1801 Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851 Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/D04179

Glen Nevis, Hugo Richardson, November 2023

Scottish Landscape, Hugo Richardson, November 2023

I like mountains as a subject for photographic landscapes.  I have experimented with light and shadow options and seasonal light intensity variations can have an effect on the mood of the image.

Clearly, where the outline of mountains meet the sky, having a ‘chiaroscuro’ methodology in the mind of the photographer, can help.

Through the value gradation of colour and the analytical division of bright and shadowed shapes, the chiaroscuro artists create the illusions of three-dimensional forms and the light coming from a specific source, often achieving dramatic effects.

By 1801, the twenty-six-year-old Turner was already an Associate of the Royal Academy.

Turner was at the centre of intellectual life.  The Academy was at the right-hand side of Somerset House, next to the Society of Antiquaries.

Sir Francis Chantrey (sculptor),  Sir John Soane (architect)  and Sir Thomas Lawrence (painter) were fellows of the Royal Society.

The Academicians attended lectures on the most complex discoveries in science and it was suggested Turner was an invited guest.

Sir William Herschel (1738-1822) presented papers on the nature of the sun.

Herschel had looked at the sun with a giant telescope in Slough.  He found a range of particular features that he called “openings, shallows, ridges, nodules, corrugations, indentations and pores”.

He filtered the harmful magnified light through a tray of watered ink.

Turner too looked at the sun and purposefully gives a dab of the brush bristles, raising nodules of paint; a wipe of the flat areas of paint making parallel ridges and a smoothed area.

Norham Castle, Sunrise c.1845 Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775-1851 Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/N01981

Capturing photographic images of the sun is best left till the sun is rising or setting. I took this photo in 2016. When the image was downloaded from the ‘SIM card’, a spotlight from the sky appeared to light up a small area of the ground. This image has not been adjusted, to this day I do not know how the photo is possible!

Landscape Sunset Near Pewsey, Hugo Richardson, November 2016

J M W Turner and the Elements – Fire

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Prometheus gave humanity fire

A Lime Kiln by Moonlight, J M W Turner, 1799

I am delighted to present the third of the ‘blogs’ relating to JMW Turner and my attempts to follow his methodology with my photographic work. Turner’s approach to art involved drama, action and bright light.

For example, we already know that his marine paintings included stormy events, ports defying the sea and ships capsizing.

The English Romantic painter, was lucky in a number of ways.  Britain was enjoying the developments associated with British invention.  Also, we had success in remaining independent from invasion attempts, following our success at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

We were also making significant strides with science.  For example, Humphry Davy, born in Cornwall, invented the Davy Lamp. This ‘arc lamp’ was one of the first electric lights. Bessemer was patenting a process for smelting steel. George and his son Robert’s company, Robert Stephenson and Company, manufactured and released the Locomotion No. 1, which was the first steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail line in 1825.

Light Bulb, photo taken by Hugo Richardson

Abstract Light Art, photograph by Hugo Richardson

Fire was being used industrially for manufacturing and for generating steam. One of Turner’s most famous paintings, depicting the move from sail to steam with marine transportation, shows how innovation was having an impact:

The Fighting Temerair, J M W Turner, 1838

The Eruption of the Souffrier Mountains, JMW Turner 1815

Turner was also interested in Geology, which led to a great demand for paintings of volcanoes.

At the start of the 1770s, an international group of artists gathered around the volcanologist William Hamilton (1731-1803), who resided as the British ambassador at the court of Naples at the foot of Mount Vesuvius.

Please see my ‘fireworks’ image below, inspired by Turner’s work:

Fireworks, Reading, Berkshire – photo taken by Hugo Richardson

The painters in his circle strove for realistic depictions of nature; they were interested in scientific inquiry and participated in the debate between the Plutonists and the Neptunists.

‘Neptunists’ believed that all rocks, including granite and basalt were formed by crystallization of material from the early earth’s oceans.

‘Plutonists’ believed that the rocks of the earth were formed through volcanic and magnetic action.

Crimson Sunset, J M W Turner, 1825

Moreover, the aesthetic qualities of fiery sunsets were always worthy visual material.

Sunset over Wiltshire Landscape, photo by Hugo Richardson

Turner arrived at a concept of landscape painting in which fire was not only used to create decorative affects, like those in the works of his contemporaries, but also became an integral part of his understanding of nature.

Firelight and lamplight were often subjects that Turner chose for his art.  This next piece of art focuses upon a fireplace in a bedroom.

A Bedroom with a Fire Burning, and a Bed with Yellow Curtains, JMW Turner 1827

Please see an interior photograph that focuses upon a living room stove, after Turner’s work of art above.

Stove Fireplace with a Round Candelabra for diffuse Light, photograph by Hugo Richardson

Glow of Bonfire, Art Photograph by Hugo Richardson

Next week Turner and The Elements – Earth

Local scenes of Reading, now on sale at Reading Museum

JWM Turner – The Elements – Air

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‘The Service of the Clouds’

   

Entrance of the Meuse, JWM Turner, Orange Merchant Ship on the bar, 1819

The approach that English painters had for landscape painting, at the beginning of Turner’s career, included the ‘aerial perspective’ (used predominantly by Dutch artists in the 15th Century)

This system was a formula for producing atmospheric effect.  The process was used for ensuring uniformity in a painting.

Distant objects were depicted as paler and bluer; those in the middle distance were green and objects in the foreground were brown.

The farther away the object the less detailed it became.

However, in the second half of the eighteenth century, English painters felt that aerial perspective’s inflexible colour scheme was imperfect.

They realised that the appearance of objects in the landscape depended on light, the movement of clouds and weather conditions.

Artists like Turner, John R Cozens, Thomas Girtin and Francis Towne changed their styles to allow for this.

Their choice of colours and brushstrokes captured the impression of a fleeting, transient moment.

This changeability in nature focused on the style that John Ruskin (1819-1900) called “service of the clouds.”

Turner was particularly adept at painting the sky, light and vapour – air.

The element of air played the most important role in Ruskin’s assessment of the innovations Turner contributed to painting.

According to Ruskin, Turner’s depictions of space were based on atmospheric transparency.

This achieved a more truthful representation of nature and was a part of the scientific foundation of art promoted not only by Ruskin, but also Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).

Turner’s work had vibrance to it, more closely showing the action of seeing through the sky rather than looking at it.

This is the effect that I am also trying to achieve with my photography.   The camera never lies, but using light, cloud, water vapour and reflection can add a depth to two-dimensions.

Watchers of the skies, through observing what is happening above us, can also have other meanings…

Clearly, from a biblical perspective, the heavens, the skies above, are also important for contemplative moods.  It is said that sitting on a beach for a few days a year, during a vacation is an important act for renewal.

The New Moon; or “I’ve lost My Boat, You shan’t have Your Hoop.” Turner 1840

Where the sea meets the sky is the furthest point that we can ever see, distance wise, with the eyes.  Most work is close up, much of it nowadays screen-based. So having the opportunity to rest the eyes, mind and soul by quietly watching the sun retreat over the horizon, whilst listening to the breathing of the sea waves, can be cathartic.

Perhaps I like Turner’s work because of the reminiscences it invokes of past holidays.

Either way, the sky is never the same from one day to the next, so it always delivers a new perspective.

In 1819, Turner visited Italy.  He was impressed by the intensity of light there.  In Rome, Turner encountered the method of painting in oils directly from nature, which derived from Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (1750-1819) and his international academy of plein-air painting from the 1770s and 1780s.

During extensive rambles through the Roman Campagna, open-air painters became aware of how important the sky was to achieving a uniform effect in painting.

Clearly, being in the open air, outdoors is also a weekend pursuit many of us look forward to at the weekends.

Sources of research: Turner and the Elements, Bucerus Kunst Forum

JMW Turner – The Elements – Water

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Emulation of Turner’s work with Abstract Art Photography

Joseph Turner, Britain’s famous artist, gave around 30,000 pieces of art to the Nation for us to appreciate his artistic capabilities.

He was a complete genius at painting the elements.  His work has inspired me to take a series of photographs that depict light on water in its many guises, to try and emulate his unique style.

A recent visit to Tate Britain allowed me to look more closely at his phenomenal skill at capturing the force of sea waves.  For example, please see this stunning piece of art called “Fishermen At Sea Off The Needles” first exhibited in 1796 (he was only 21 when he painted this). The sense of movement in the water is breath taking:

Turner used a mixture of art materials for the effects he wanted. His use of colour and gouache (a type of paint made from pigments bound in water-soluble gum, like watercolour, but with the addition of white pigment in order to make it opaque) allowed him to explore dramatic scenes like this painting.

‘Stormy Sea’ Painting JWM Turner 1830 above.

‘Rushing Water’  abstract art photograph inspired by Turner’s style:

Mastering the movement of water, through painting and sketching, meant research. Turner took this to the limits.  He requested to be tied to the mast of a ship, in order to prevent himself from being thrown overboard during a sea storm in 1842. Ultimately it was so he could experience the torrent of a storm from a ship, thereby obtaining insights into the movement of water.

‘Water in Turmoil’ – Abstract Art Photograph

Turner always lived close to the river Thames, probably because he loved experiencing the movement and reflective quality that water gives us. 

Following on from the admiration of his work, I have recently taken some photographs that show both the power and light that water has.

‘White Water Swell’ another abstract art photograph

Please note waves turning in the mid left

NEXT WEEK – Turner and the Elements – AIR

Birds of Burghfield – Part One

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When we first moved to Burghfield we were amazed at the wide variety of bird life, particularly aquatic, that live around the Kennet and Avon Canal and local stretches of water.

One of the most amazing species of bird that we have observed is the heron.  It is a very tall bird, with strange strands of feathers at the front, that make it look somewhat unkempt.

Fiona and I continually discuss the extraordinary features that this sizeable bird has. Their quirks include a bendy neck that it retracts when flying.  This is unlike other birds, like swans and geese, that straighten out their necks in front of them when in flight. The heron has 20 to 21 cervical vertebrae in its neck, which makes this possible.

They look like cloaked school masters in profile. Or the poem ‘Haegri’ (Shetlandic for Heron, please click on ‘Haegri’ for the full poem) by Roseanne Watt aptly describes her heron as ‘curled like a question mark’. They are one of the few species of birds that are prehistoric. I must admit they don’t look like a bird from this epoch when they fly, watching them makes me feel I have been transported millions of years back in time.

The heron is reluctant to take off because they weigh up to 2 kilograms and are up to 98cm in height, with feathers that provide some resistance to flight.  Consequently, a big wingspan is required and this measures up to a full 1.95 metres.

An adult heron needs around half a kilogram of food per day and they will continue on the hunt till this target is reached.  They eat fish, voles, frogs, eels, insects and young birds, like ducklings for example.  Mind blowingly we have seen a grown heron fly towards a mink in a distinctly aggressive way.

I am also convinced that the heron was the model for the birds in the Avatar films (please click on Avatar video clip for the plumes).  If you look closely at the photograph above, you can see a long dark plume of feathers trailing behind its head.  Their plume is like the reins that the avatars used to ride on the backs of magnificent birds depicted in the movies.

Please see photo below that shows the heron with neck fully retracted in flight.

Herons are also very solitary by nature.  I have only ever seen them on their own. Of course, they must find a partner in Spring, or the numbers would deplete quickly! The female will lay up to 10 pale blue eggs and both parents incubate the eggs for 25 days.

Sources of information include:?https://community.rspb.org.uk/?????????????????????????????????https://www.everyheron.com/

https://www.heronconservation.org/herons-of-the-world/heron-taxonomy-and-evolution/

 

Photographs by Hugo Richardson Tel. 07476 343 777

Why are bees driven, what motivates them?

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We are told that insects were created by God on the fifth day (see Genesis in the bible).?

Clearly, Genesis’s account of creation is open to interpretation.?The six days of creation are not twenty four hour days but much longer periods, likely to be thousands to billions of years.

Bees evolved from ancient predatory wasps that lived 120 million years ago (please click on: Museum of the Earth).

Bees are attracted to the flower’s bright colours, patterns on the petals and the aroma of sweet nectar. However, what is fascinating is the fact that discoveries from 1960s onwards show they are attracted by an electrical charge. (please click on: “Bees can sense the electrical field of flowers“) .?Flowers are negatively charged and bees are positively charged.?Please see photo below showing bees feeding on erymgium giganteum or ‘Miss Willmott’s ghost’.

The electrical charges between the flower and the bees mean that the pollen can be seen to jump to the bees body, says Daniel Robert of the University of Bristol (please click on: University of Bristol).

In order to further interpret the electrical signals that bees are sensitive to, electrodes can be attached to the stems of flowers.?These electrodes can be attached to speakers and the electrical pulse can be heard.?This sound changes when the bee approaches as the bee has a different electrical signal.?David Attenborough describes this intricately in the following video: Electric Charge on Flowers and Bees.

The reason that I photograph bees is because the real science of bee flight was not entirely clarified until the 1990s.?In addition to the circular motion of the wings and speed of rotation, an article in the New Scientist reveals that there are also “tiny tornado-like airflows that form on the leading edges of their wings, known as LEVs or leading edge vortices” (please click on: New Scientist).?Also, trying to obtain a bee’s photograph in flight is a challenge as they move so fast! Please see photo of bumble bee flying towards rhododendron bush below.

Bees are an essential part of our existence.?They provide honey for cooking purposes and they make it possible for flowers and blossoms to produce seeds, fruit and nuts for example.

Bee photographs taken by Hugo Richardson, hugorichardson@imagememory.uk Mob. 07476 343 777

Achieving Vision

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You have a mode of transport, but what is the full plan?

Every journey starts with the first step. Rehearsals may be required if the planned destination is the delivery of a ‘performance.’

This is the case with the ‘Arts’ (a performance of a play, musical, film, ballet, poem or painting) and also with commercial endeavours. Sustaining increases in performance, in commercial terms, is an imperative for growth, success and even survival.

So this is an important ‘blog’ for the launch of Image Memory.

Image Memory is the fusion of a lifetime of art appreciation and over 30 years business experience in sales and marketing.

Image Memory seeks to support hospitality clients with their marketing plans through the addition of wall art, photography and installations to inculcate customer memories.

The vision for you to encourage customers can include a new art installation, a refurbishment programme or exhibition of art, for example. These are all good reasons for generating new and / or existing footfall and public relations activity.

For example, a Canadian author was inspired by a map of the London Underground, that hung on the wall of his grandmother’s dining room, to emigrate and live in London.

Hospitality venues can entice customers through a mixture of vectors including location, architecture, food, comfort, service, decor and ambience.

My father regularly took us to hotels he had stayed in on business, because he had been inspired by some or all of the above.

So what strategies do you have in place in 2022 to encourage new and repeat footfall within your hotel, restaurant, pub or guest house?

Who do you call when you want to redecorate or expand your venue?

We aim to work with and for photographers, artists, interior designers and architects to help you as a hotelier, restauranteur or publican inspire customer visits and re-visits through memory motivation.

Hugo Richardson DipM MCIM – 07476 343 777