I was struck on my morning dog walk the other day that the clouds were actually a shade of green.
Colour has always been important to my design practise, especially in logo and visual branding design because it does so much to tell your audience about you – what type of business you’re in, and if are you fun or serious, traditional or innovative, before they’ve read anything in your logo shape, name, messaging or image style. And as a graphic designer I’ve always been struck by the shorthand we give to things by using icons and use of the expected – blue sky, white fluffy clouds – using the universally recognised for subliminal messaging, but since I started ‘do-ing’ painting in earnest I’ve been looking more closely at colours and shapes. And I’m aware that nothing much is as it seemed to be. I no longer lean into expectations. I now look at everything differently. I am constantly surprised by the ordinary.
I haven’t been counting, but for my painting I must be reaching the 3 000-hour ‘expert’ rule since my pivot (10 000 for Gladwells ‘world class’ – not sure I’d call myself a world class graphic designer even though I’ve put in the hours!). I’m not including four years of art school, and forty years as a graphic designer, but I probably should.
The more I ‘do’ art – rather than ‘commercial’ art, the more I see.