Color Inspires Runners

Art is inspirational and valuable in many facets of life and society, including business, education, and entertainment. It is art that often stirs passion and gives many a reason for living. Indeed, our society is built partially on the foundation of the legacy of great artists and excellent works of art. But can art, or elements of art, inspire individuals in the fitness realm? It can and does. Just ask any individual involved in The Color Run™.

The Color Run™ is basically a three-mile run that is marked by bright, beautiful, and bold colors at various points in the course. The focus of The Color Run™ is not necessarily athletic ability, but “crazy color fun with friends and family.” The point of The Color Run™ is to take white t-shirt-clad runners and smear them with rainbow colors by the end of the 3-mile (5k) race.

There are only a couple of rules enforced by The Color Run™. One rule is that runners must begin the course wearing proper running attire, which in this case includes a plain white t-shirt. The second and last rule is that runners must be covered in color by the race’s end.

The Color Run™ uses different colors at specific kilometers (or COLOR RUN Zones) in the race. As athletes pass through the zones they become running works of art as Color Run™ workers “blitz” them with vibrant shades of color. The colors typically used are blue, orange, pink, and yellow. Apparently the colors employed by The Color Run™ are safe enough to eat, although it is not recommended.

There are plenty of The Color Run™ locations throughout the United States and Australia. A few of those locations include Salt Lake City, Portland, Cincinnati, Miami, Nashville, San Diego, Hawaii, Charlotte, and Orlando. There are many other locations as well. Registration for most of these events is still open, and individuals can register for The Color Run™ in their city by visiting http://thecolorrun.com/locations/.

Does art, or aspects of art, such as color, inspire you to greater levels of fitness? That’s what it’s doing for thousands of people throughout the world. There seems to truly be no limit to the ways art and color can benefit humanity.

Note: The images represented in this blog post do not belong to Segmation; they were found at http://www.insego.org/caluwe-test-what-color-are-you/ and http://neurorelays.wordpress.com/2012/06/28/color-psychology-of-consumer-decision-making/.

http://thecolorrun.com/about/

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Using Complimentary Colors

For some artists, the use of complimentary colors may seem like the basic of the basics. Without much thought they may discount their effect and use them as if they are second nature. But let’s not forget, sometimes simplicity can be the most elegant and (ironically) sophisticated approach to an artists color scheme. Using complimentary colors is an easy and certain approach to deliver works of art.

Reference the Color Wheel for Complimentary Colors

Lets address the color wheel. A lot has changed here. For centuries artists were limited in terms of what specific shades of color they had access to. Because of this, much of history’s most famous artists were compelled to use the simple pairings of complimentary colors, found on the basic color wheel. These pairings are…

• Red and Green
• Blue and Orange
• Yellow and Violet

You’ll notice that the complimentary colors are simply opposites on the color wheel. With the ever- expanding body of knowledge we’ve dubbed “Color Theory”, the color wheel itself has changed immensely.

The HSV Color Wheel

What you are more likely to see as a representation of your color choices today – looks something like the HSV color wheel to the left. The same principles apply, that opposites are complimentary, but as you can see it offers a vast multitude of shades not found on the standard color wheel. Now instead of trying to achieve the feel of a romantic Italian town with solid reds and greens, an artist can take inspiration from the HSV wheel and instantly hand pick shades of Sage green and Venetian red. This work previously (depending on your skills and way of expression) could take hours of mixing to define the desired colors intent. Now with the digital age, we can find a representation of the colors in our minds before we start to mix and blend. This is a huge advantage of artists today that is largely overlooked.

Finding new color schemes and developing more complex characteristics for a piece is still interesting. However, if you find yourself stuck, or not conveying the images and thoughts you would like, then take a look at the HSV color wheel and find your complexity in all of the wheels simplicity.

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Colors Change What is Beautiful

What is beautiful? The term is a bit subjective, don’t you think? After all, isn’t beauty in the eye of the beholder?

It most certainly is, but one undeniable quality about color is its ability to make all things beautiful!

This is why color-field painting, with its abstract merging of vivid colors, is responsible for some beautiful works of art.  In this post we will look at how color-field painting evokes emotions and has the ability to change an environment.

By now we know how color impacts art and also stirs emotion in people. Recent posts discuss color therapy, known as chromotherapy and the psychology of color, offering insight into how color can impact an individual.  As artists, we know the emotional impact art can have on us. Vivid colors can stir emotions and hold an observers heart once they pass.

Sometimes, color makes beautiful what was not beautiful before. This is the case of color-field painting; color, shape, composition, proportion, balance, style, and scale change a blank canvas into a brilliant work of art.

This style of art is very abstract and those who are best known for its development are considered Abstract Expressionists.  Color-field painting emerged in New York in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. It was a type of art inspired by European modernism and made popular by artists like Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman.

What sets color-field painting apart from other types of abstract art is the artist’s regard for paint.  With the main focus being color, shape, composition, proportion, balance, style, and scale, there is less emphasis on gesture, brushstrokes and consistent actions that create form and process.  In fact, the entire work of art is created by the artist who determines what elements he or she will add to convey a sense of place, atmosphere, or environment. In other words, what makes color-field painting beautiful, is its subjectivity.

Like most art, the beauty of color-field painting is in the eye of the beholder.  These colorful pieces are nice accents for decoration and fun to paint too! But don’t let the look of simplicity fool you.  This style is not easy to perfect and contrary to how it appears, cannot be replicated by a 6 year old!

Have you splashed your art palette with color today?  Try it and see how color changes what you see as beautiful.

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If you enjoyed this Segmation blog post, we’re sure you’ll like:

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Leonardo and Picasso: Artists of Their Times www.segmation.com

Leonardo da Vinci and Pablo Picasso are two of the most famous painters in history (if not the most famous); one a Renaissance genius renowned for his skillful realism, the other a modern legend and co-founder of Cubism.

Did you know that even though Leonardo’s Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world, he only produced less than 30 paintings in total? Even then, many of them were left unfinished. Picasso, on the other hand, created nearly 2000 paintings – plus sculptures, drawings, ceramics, and hand-pulled prints that combine to over 50,000 works of art! (To be fair though, Leonardo also left behind a substantial number of drawings, sketches, and pages full of notes.)

One reason for this vast difference in the number of paintings produced is that both artists were products of the times in which they lived. When Leonardo was alive, artists didn’t have the luxury of creating art for art’s sake. Instead they were commissioned by the church, guilds and wealthy patrons to create paintings and sculptures that were expected to depict certain themes. For this reason, Leonardo needed to find work where he could. During times of war, he had to work as a military architect and engineer, designing methods of defense. Making art took a backseat to the work necessary for survival.

By the time Picasso was born 362 years after Leonardo’s death, the world was a different place. Artists had more freedom than ever to paint what they wanted. Self-expression in art was more widely accepted and expected. Instead of being commission-based, most artwork was sold in galleries to private collectors, as money flowed more abundantly through society than it did during the Renaissance. By the 20th century, successful artists such as Picasso were able to sustain themselves from the sale of their artworks alone, and did not need to seek alternate forms of employment to make ends meet.

These factors may contribute to the reason why Picasso created so many more artworks than Leonardo, even though Leonardo is the creator of the most famous painting in the world. Who knows what more Leonardo could have accomplished if he’d been alive in modern times?

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