A Selection of the ‘Appropriate’ Gouache Containers from 1984
When I was in grad school, most of my time was consumed with required courses, thesis work, grocery shopping at Star Market, laundry on Capitol Hill, and adventures when I could. The undergraduate curriculum was extensive and it was a great opportunity to take a class when I could. The first one I took was a winter session color theory class my first year. Winter session was a five week condensed semester between fall and spring semesters.
Our first assignment was to create a primary and secondary color wheel by hand painting individual colors on paper and then assembling them. The next couple of assignments isolated specific colors, like compliments, and presented them as pairings to demonstrate various color relationships like simultaneous contrast, and value through black and white comparisons. For our final project, we picked an object to translate in color and in black and white. Unlike the previous assignments, it didn’t require painting on separate pieces paper, cutting the swatches out, and then dry mounting them. This assignment had us to paint directly onto a single surface.
I picked a conk shell. The professor asked if I was sure I wanted to work with this object because of its complexity. I assured her it would be fine. I broke it down into approximately 22 colors for the color version and another 20 or so for the black and white version. There are very few distinct color breaks because it’s just a smear of color from one to another. I started by creating two identical line drawings of the shell within a 10 x 10 square format in pencil. Once I had the composition determined, I began to mix paint.
I used small, shallow, aluminum pans about the size and depth of a hockey puck to hold each color. After I finished, I covered each container in cellophane. I don’t remember exactly what happened immediately after that, why I left, or where I went, but it must have been a few days. When I returned, I peeled off the cellophane and discovered that most of the color were partially dry and mostly unusable. I almost had a nervous breakdown. I had to start completely over with the exception of only a few that survived. When I spoke with the professor to let her know what had happened and how I was now way behind schedule, she listened, nodded and gently let me know that a different type of container would have been a better way to go—like the ones she recommended on the supplies list. I bought them and started over. I remixed all of the colors and gray values. Days flew by and I eventually ran out of time. I didn’t finish either piece completely and she had to evaluate them on what I had. It was a disaster. Thirty-five years later I still have that hazy category of ‘school dreams’ referencing those five weeks during periods of stress and self doubt—reliving the horror among the dry and cracked gouache pucks.
Songs :: Take Five by The Dave Brubeck Quartet, She’s Gone by Hall & Oates, and Once In a Lifetime by Talking Heads
For Aki
© C. Davidson