View from the shore

Hello all!

Our world is colorful. There is saturation, chroma, and hue everywhere. It surrounds us every second of everyday. And it is beautiful. What I attempt to do is capture these moments to the best of my abilities. Here is ‘View From The Shore,’ painted during the later hours of a morning, when colors were most vivid.

2020-L32-Unger-ViewFromTHeSHore-8x10 / ‘View From The Shore’ / 8’x10” / Oil on Canvas / Cassi Unger

Color is what makes the world special and beautiful. It’s what makes all of us unique and connected as human beings too. That’s what I try to allow children in schools to see.

I was instructing how to draw a self-portrait one class to younger students, going over the basic shapes and colors of a face. The children were seated at different tables looking at themselves with little mirrors “investigating” the shapes that make up their faces. One little girl looked up at me, frustrated and sad because she discovered that the children next her had blue eyes. She wanted to know, “why?” Why did she not?

She and the other children both learned something and taught me something in return. The young girl and other children discovered that they all looked very different that day. But they also learned that these features, shapes, and colors are what make them special and beautiful.

When an adult says they, “don't see color,” they are ignoring both the beauty and the problems in this world. The inability to see color is the inability to spread compassion, love, and change for equality.

Color allows us to open both our eyes and ears to the real and living world around us. Don’t overlook it. Don’t shut it out.

xxCass

Color

noun

1 The quality of an object or substance with respect to light reflected by the object, usually determined visually by measurement of hue, saturation, and brightness of the reflected light; saturation or chroma; hue.

2 The natural appearance of skin, especially of the face; complexion.