Is the hot abstract seller just black on white? Really?
I don’t know. Wide strokes of black on a white background, though not that easy to get a decent composition, is a lot like a mud fence. It may work, but cripes – is that the best you can think of? Color!! Interior design sure needs it. What is with dove gray walls and white woodwork? It’s so…. Institutional. Is that what art is now? The world needs color!
Okay, the world needs a lot of things: peace, clean air, water and energy, sane sustainable visions of the future but until then, let’s at least have color.
You say you don’t want to go through all the ‘bother’ of learning color theory, or making your own color wheels and tone scales to become familiar with your medium of choice? You just want to go for it, shooting from the hip and hang out at the hardware store’s paint chip area trying to put three colors together that you like. OK. Do that without asking anyone else what they think. If you’re going to give up your power and choice to others by asking if mauve and chartreuse go together (they do, of course) then you may as well learn the color theory right the first time.
Google flags of other countries to see if you like strong primaries together: Red, Black, Green or Blue and Yellow.
Or Google landscapes: tropical islands, meadows and forests, deserts in bloom or not. Look at the colors in the pictures. Do you like any of those? Can you think to yourself, “why do I like those blues and greens? Would l like giant green leaves going up the wall on the ceiling?” Sounds cool to me. Be brave. Don’t jump on the Fad bandwagon.
Why not just go Au Naturale? Paint the ceilings sky blue and put down green and brown rugs. The furniture can be all the stuff in between. Try to figure out what you actually like…. Not what some magazine says, or designer, or what is easiest. One of the best things of NOT renting a living space is the freedom to paint the walls how you’d like.
(Please do not paint your rented apartment black. Cool as that might be, it is hard to bring it back to industrial bland.)
A friend asked me about some old linoleum he has in his farm house. I suggested painting it, as my grandmother liked to do. He said his aunt told him he’d ‘ruin the linoleum.’ I said: “I don’t think that’s even possible.”
If you don’t want to rip up old linoleum and redo the wood floors underneath, and you don’t want rugs, then paint it. My grandmother was fond of the patterns of chickens walking around, but since she would not dip the hen’s feet into a paint pan and let them loose in the kitchen, she went for her own abstract version of chicken foot prints and was always pleased with the outcome. Painting what you want gives you satisfaction, especially when you are unconcerned with your children’s critiques, or anyone else’s for that matter. Your space… enjoy what you like in that space.
More on how to learn from or mostly ignore unsolicited criticism another time.
If you insist upon having art gallery white walls in order to better show off your accent painting of broad black strokes, then fine. Let your throw pills be your spots of color. You might want to read my blog on rude cross-stitch.
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