My sweet daddy was severely colorblind, and he passed that gift to two of his three daughters (both sons could see all color). My sister and I are only red-green colorblind, her favorite color is red and mine is green. We can see red and green, just not all shades, and we have had many laughs at ourselves and with others about colors. Two of my sons are colorblind (one more so than the other), none of my sister’s children are. All this fascinates me!
My sister embraced colors with ease, I have aways struggled.. well not always. I think my high school art teacher started my struggle. I have always been comfortable with the way I see the world and adapted my expectations according to my color limitations. We were assigned a batik project and asked to bring a photo from home for our subject matter. I specifically chose a sepia toned antique photo of my grandmother sitting with my daddy when he was a baby. I knew I could see the tones and shades in the sepia print and not have to “worry” about color, and therefore enjoy the project more.
Everything went well until the last bit. After weeks of working on the project without any correction from the teacher, I was told that I would not pass art class if I did not put COLOR in my batik. (I think various shades brown and tan and gray are colors, don’t you?) I was so upset that I didn’t finish the project in the allotted time- I spent days begging to finish my project as I had planned before finally giving into the teacher’s demands. My teacher made me put green for the potted plants from the photo.
I have that batik hanging in my home. I never really finished the project. I brought it home and ironed off the wax. I am proud of my work, before the green, but something clicked in my mind an heart through that ordeal. It is the first time I felt limited by my colorblindness. I would rather believe the way God chose for me to see color is a gift not something that makes me less than.
It has taken me years to be ready for exploring more color in artwork. My goal is to not concern myself with what others might see in my art, but to only consider what I see and to enjoy the process of creating without worry.
Persimmon photographed to paint “one day” but my lack of color confidence has hindered my attempt.