My Work and Color Relativity

Algae, 5" x 7", Jill Keller-Peters

In the early years of my painting training I sought out the best teacher that I could find and who would be a good fit for me. I didn't know if I wanted to paint landscape or still life, but I did know that I wanted to learn to paint well. I got really lucky and was referred by Jeanette Le Grue to Susan Sarback, School of Light & Color, from whom I learned the effect of light and color when it is translated into oil painting.  She taught me the direct experience of seeing how light and color create form and space.

Susan teaches painting in the lineage of Monet, and one learns to mix paint on the canvas, not of the palette. She also taught me about Josef Albers and the relativity of color, that color is constantly changing, always being seen in relation to the colors it is surrounded by.  For this education I am eternally grateful. My work has always been influenced by color relativity, because it was instilled from the start.

Color is understood through experience. We need to train our eyes to understand color and begin to see the differences between colors. Through comparison and contrast of different colors one begins to understand how colors interact and how to apply this to color usage.

As I continue to learn and grow I find I have so much more to learn about color, that there is a great, delicious, unending chasm left to explore.

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