As mentioned in some of my previous posts, I’ve been taking a class called Color Dynamics at Laney College in Oakland.

This class is led by Anna Vaughn, and focuses on the interaction of color as developed by Josef Albers. The studies that we’ve experimented with, learned from, and gained immense knowledge from are skills and techniques that I’ve really come to value.

I have to say that I’ve missed out on a lot, not knowing or understanding, or even being comfortable with color!  Only a few months ago, I was the person that said: “Wooowww! It’s SUCH a nice day out! ….. I think I’ll wear GRAY!” (Okay, I admit that it was only a few weeks ago, and I actually still really love my plain black, white, and gray colored clothes.)

Nevertheless, this class has taught me a lot about how to utilize color in my art pieces, which was always a challenge for me in the past without any formal training. Ever spend weeks on an awesome outline drawing, only to mess it up when you plop down some color you realize doesn’t work at all? Yeah, that was me. This class has taught me a lot about how to use and how to MAKE colors work to enhance your composition, and how to create the feel and mood of your piece.

But I think the greatest lesson this class has taught me is how to be COMFORTABLE with color. Now, even if I “mess up” and use a color I wasn’t originally intending, I’m not afraid to experiment and explore different mixtures to create a completely different composition than expected.

Below are several lessons I’ve learned that I’d like to share with you, along with the works I created to complete these experiments. I’m proud of my pieces, and I hope you enjoy them too!

Make One Color Appear As Two

This was one of our first lessons that shocks me even now! For me, this was the phenomenon that got me fascinated about our perception and understanding of color, and how much it exists in our everyday world (yet we know so little about)!

The exercise is to make one color look like two completely different colors. This is done by changing the background colors. Here’s an example:

Assignment: Make one color appear as two different colors (by changing the background colors)

Notice the small, olive-green square in the middle of these two bigger green and blue squares. Because of the contrast in hue, value, and saturation of the green and blue background squares, it makes the smaller, olive-green squares look like two different colors.

(Don’t trust me? If you’re using Firefox, download the Colorzilla plugin and use the eyedropper to see if the colors are the same.)

Isn’t that AWESOME!?

Transparency

The illusion of transparency was a very fun project for me! Maybe it’s the challenge of having detailed, precise lines and borders in order to successfully create the illusion, or maybe it’s just because it looks so cool!

The illusion of transparency is created by slightly altering the tone of your colors to make it appear like there’s a transparent sheet (like a photo gel) on top. Here’s what I did:

The Illusion of Transparency (03-26-09)

I first laid down the main brighter yellow ochre and purple, then laid down the darker yellow ochre and darker purple tones (the circlular and triangular dark shades).

For the gouache paints that we’re using, it’s really important to lay down each tone separately. Otherwise, the color/tone on the bottom might come up and the illusion won’t work. Each have to be laid down separately, and you have to make sure the lines and borders are precise in matching up.

I also learned the illusion of transparency and space. That is, creating the illusion of a transparency behind or in front of an object. Here, I created an illusion of a red ribbon flowing behind and in front of a few white transparent lines:

The Illusion of Transparency and Space (03-26-09)

To create this illusion, follow the same technique as the above Illusion of Transparency exercise: lay down each tone separately, and make sure your lines are precise.

Additionally, to make the ribbon look like it’s flowing BEHIND the white transparent lines, mix the two together and add a little more of the foreground object’s color. So, I mixed red and white (making a pinkish color), and added a little more WHITE since that’s in front.

Similarly, to make the ribbon look like it’s flowing IN FRONT of the white transparent lines, mix the two together and add a little more of the foreground object’s color. So, I mixed the red and white, and added a little more of the RED since the ribbon is in front of the white.

Pretty simple, eh? :)

Developing a Palette

Here’s another fun project I’ve really enjoyed: Create 3 pieces with the same composition, and use different reds, yellows, blues for each one. (For any greens, purples, oranges that you use for each piece, you must mix the primaries that you’ve chosen to use for that piece to create those greens, purples, oranges, etc).

Ready, Set, Go -- 3 Primaries Palette (04-27-09)

Left: I used yellow ochre, crimson red, ultramarine blue
Middle: Lemon yellow, brilliant red, gray
Right: Medium yellow, burnt sienna, sky blue

Each piece is 3×4 inches and was very fun to patiently work in all the details, and slight shading. I had no idea that the colors would come out so differently for each piece, so it was definitely a great surprise! Each came out very special and unique in its own way.

Which one do you like more? I’m drawn towards the middle one the most!

Altering Palette

I just completed this today! Create 2 pieces with the same composition. Paint the first piece normally. For the second piece, use an additive color for each color used. The result will make the colors in the piece look more unified.

The additive color I used was a blueish gray.

Boxer (04-29-09)

Teehee! Isn’t my boxer guy cute? I couldn’t stop giggling when I was painting this!

Have any feedback about any of these pieces? Let me know what you think!
Want to see more of my previous work? Feel free to visit my Portfolio!

Thanks, Brent (@brentium), for the heads up about this!

A bunch of Union International food spices have been recalled. A lot of Asian restaurants use these spices. This has apparently been happening since mid-March but I haven’t even heard about it until today.

From SeriousEats.com:

The state health department has issued a consumer alert warning about spices used by Asian restaurants manufactured by a Bay Area plant that have been linked to a Salmonella outbreak in Central and Northern California. So far, 42 people in the nation have gotten sick, including 33 in California, according to the California Department of Public Health. Illnesses have occurred in 15 counties in Central and Northern California, the most recent being March 13.

“Consumers should avoid eating spices manufactured by Union International Food Company,” the agency’s director Dr. Mark Horton said on the department’s Web site.

According to the health department, health specialists have linked the Salmonella cases to the plant’s white and black pepper products used in Asian restaurants.

Here’s the rest of the SeriousEats.com article, and some other helpful links:

• http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2009/03/bay-area-spice-plant-linked-to-salmonella-outbreak.html
• http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/news/Pages/PH09-022.aspx
• http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/news/Pages/PH09-021%20%20Union%20Int%20Spice%203.28.09.aspx
• http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/news/Pages/NR2009-23-WidenedRecallofSpices.aspx

Salmonella Restaurant Black List (PDF) — Here is a list of local Bay Area restaurants that receive shipments from Union International.

A lot of these are popular Asian restaurants that many of my peers go to. And… well… knowing the standards of some asian restaurants, they might ignore the illness warnings. Better not risk it, imo!

Spread the word!

A week ago, the name “Susan Boyle” swept the globe like wildfire.

I was cleaning the living room with MSNBC on, where they shared feedback from viewers about the Susan Boyle segment they did the day before. They didn’t show her performance, but shared the commentary from a viewer which caught my interest.

The viewer spoke of the hardships of our time right now, and the stress and financial pressures she’s needed to go through in the last few months, with children to take after too. When she saw the Susan Boyle video on the news, it brought a smile to her face. She thanked the newscast for sharing the story and asked that they cover similarly positive stories like this, even to bring a smile to someone’s face for 5 minutes in their day.

This sincere commentary caught my curiosity and I Youtubed “Susan Boyle.”

If you haven’t seen the video yet, you can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luRmM1J1sfg

Below are my thoughts and social commentary in response to Susan Boyle’s shocking performance.

Introduction

Unexpectedly, this video greatly affected me. I started crying while watching and continued to cry, 15 minutes after I watched the video. Why did this have such a big impact on me?

Without a doubt, Susan’s singing abilities is extraordinary: grand, beautiful, and precise. The moment she sang her first line, it reminded me of Jodi Benson, the voice actor for The Little Mermaid’s Ariel. When I saw pictures of Ariel’s voice, I was in my teens and was a little shocked that “it was an old lady”! (Perception of “old” was rather skewed back then ;)

There’s two issues that come up for both Susan and Jodi’s examples: the correlations between beauty equating to success, and the preconceived notions of beauty and age. Additionally, the three factors of beauty, success, and age are all related.

Shock

Why is it that we were all shocked the moment Susan sang her first line?

She doesn’t look like everyone else, she’s older, and she’s from a village town. She’s nervous so she stumbles on her words on stage.

Based on previous experiences watching these shows, the editors often depict the abnormal contestants as weird, strange, unappealing to tv audiences, and otherwise unsuccessful. Take a look at the editing, they still made Susan out that way before she began singing. It’s reinforced by the teenage audience member that rolls her eyes, and the middle age woman that’s probably saying, “She’s old; she shouldn’t be up there!”

So then she sang. And it was strong, clear, and elegant. Her voice was so “opposite” of her appearances–or rather, her voice was so opposite of the appearances WE’RE used to seeing.

Beauty and Success

That bubbles down to our concept of beauty and success, both walking hand-in-hand.

Look at all the successful American Idol contestants over the years. All of them have been made-over to be “more presentable” for the mass media. They’ve been cleaned up, styled, and are prim.

Consider the whole idea of make-overs on talk shows and how the audience cheers to reinforce the concept of beauty=success, that now she’ll be able to find the job and man of her dreams with her new look! (Finding a man=success is a topic for another day ;) Magazines, models, celebrities, we hear it all the time about how we’re fed images of beauty. But do we THINK and CONSIDER and DIGEST these things that we internalize every day?

Consider our own individual lives, and how we have to dress up at work. Traditionally, folks at large corporations need to have business attire (though a lot more relaxed in the computer/web company world). White-collar attire vs. blue-collar attire.

I’m not saying that this is bad and we should change it, I’m just saying this is how it IS. We’ve been taught and we are CONSTANTLY taught that beauty equates to success.

Beauty and Age

It’s interesting how our perception of beauty itself has been driven by advertisements, Hollywoodism, and mass media’s goal to just make more money through sexual icons. They all tell us that beauty = youth, and that growing old is NOT beautiful.

Why else would you buy the products that reduce wrinkles? Why else would so many middle age people dye their hair to cover up their grays? Our culture is not very good at embracing aging for what it is.

Most older women want to look young again. Most women in their 20s want to maintain their youth as long as they can. And most teens want to look like what folks in their 20s look like.

Our society’s conception of beauty is in youth.

Proving Us Wrong

For the reasons above, when we initially see people like Susan on tv, we kind of cringe because she wears a plain dress, she hair is flopping all over the place, she just doesn’t look appealing on tv because it’s not what we’re used to. She’s 47, way over the age of most contestants in their teens/20s/30s.

So, people have preconceived judgments and EXPECT and WANT her to fail, because that’s what we’re used to seeing when people like her come on tv. She lacks the media’s ideal beauty aspect altogether, so chances are she’s not gonna do very well.

Wrong. Her voice shook us up, contradicted our expectations and conceptions of how WE think she was going to do. In fact, it’s the contrast of our preconceived notions of her appearance that really brought out the success and talent in her voice.

Lucky for her, she’s good and she had a great performance. Consider what would have happened if she stumbled during her song, or if she got really nervous like most contestants would on stage. She was spared by the spears of judgment that loomed over her, waiting to strike at her fumble.

In a completely different experience, beyond the superficiality of appearances, it was her voice, her talent, and her uplifting personality that brings out the beauty in her now.

Final Thoughts

So, why did I cry for so long? Why was I so touched by her performance?

Yes, it was the obviously moving and inspiring ability of her voice, in addition to the lyrics of the song she sang.

Yes, it was the happiness I felt when she overcame everyone’s negative preconceptions of her, which were solely based off of her appearance and behaviors.

Yes, it was the complete turn around that the judges and audience members experienced, where they all shockingly realized that they were proved wrong.

But I cried also because I realized how we’re SO quick to judge, and we’re SO quick in thinking that we know everything and anything about someone in a span of 60 seconds. And that it’s usually in a negative, put down manner.

And it also made me think about all the people that will NEVER get a chance to succeed because of that, and because of the lack of OPPORTUNITY to even SHOW others that they’re extraordinary. There’s likely someone in a 3rd world country right now who could potentially be THE person to cure cancer, but due to the lack of opportunity, resources, encouragement, and BELIEF, it WON’T happen.

Susan Boyle’s performance brought a lot of positive feelings to me, but it made me understand and realize more clearly the negative implications too.

I think the major lesson for me is that every person has a talent, although it might not be completely developed yet–they need the opportunity, resource, and support for it to show. Also, every person has an opportunity to prove you wrong, so don’t get too comfortable in thinking you know everything about everyone.

Thanks for reading my thoughts and commentary on this topic. I’d love to hear what you thought about her performance too. :)

Last month, I attended a nationally publicized LaidOffCamp, where I learned a lot of great information and met a lot of inspirational people.

LaidOffCamp was an “unconference” or a “BarCamp“, where the conference sessions are put on and discussed by the event’s participants. This allows a lot of openness, community-building, and networking at all of these events. If you haven’t been to a BarCamp, I highly recommend it! You’ll be sure to take something from the event, feeling positive and productive, and you’ll get to meet folks that have the same interest as you!

I learned a lot of great information at LaidOffCamp and thought it would be beneficial for everyone to know! Below are the notes I took so I could share with YOU. Hope it helps! :)

(If you’re looking for information and resources about to do after being laid off, you can also read my Layoff Survival Guide.)

Interesting Sessions I Attended:

• “Forming a Corporation or LLC”
• “Freelancing Tools”
• “Resume 2.0″
• “Networking 101/Personal Branding”
• “Be a Yes (in this “No” Economy)”

Unfortunately, each session was only about 30-45 minutes, which I felt wasn’t ample time to fully wrap up topics and discussions. Nevertheless, each session provided much shared information and great ideas!

Contine Reading More… »

The Poetic Prophet (AKA The SEO Rapper) describes how web standards and proper design can affect the ranking and conversion of pages on your site.

This. is. awesome.

Go to the YouTube page to read the genius lyrics!

Thanks for the link, Greg!