Colours for Health and Happiness

Photographing or painting with vibrant colours are happy makers.

Flowers are an endless source of vibrant colours, and of shapes as well. So are fruit and vegetables. Colours are not just healthy and nourishing for the eyes and the mind or soul but also physically, for the body. Each colour provides different nutrients, flowers included. A lot of flowers are edible. I even own a book on colour-coded cooking.

 

                          

                Chrysanthemums                                   Chrysanthemums and Gerbera

 

However, for painting I prefer the flowers because being female I got the job of cooking and shopping and more landed on me. That means I am dealing with fruit and vegetables on a daily basis already. Not that I ever wanted that job, let alone applied for it. Got it anyway, below minimum wages as in zero as well. Never mind!

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593)

Fruit and vegetables have been painted by more or less famous artists  for centuries. One of the most interesting and unique ones would be Giuseppe Arcimboldo. He created lots of portraits out of them, e.g. the face is made up of lots of different fruit and vegetables, sometimes flowers as well. He was really quite excellent.

More pictures by and info on G. Arcimboldo here: eclecticlight.co/…/a-personal-language-giuseppe-arcimboldos-unique-portraits

Judith Leyster (1609-1660) – Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750)

Flowers have basically been painted from the 17th century onwards. That’s when they started coming into public view in Europe. Tradesmen collected bulbs and seeds on their travels and introduced them to the wealthier people as they were very expensive. It was a lot cheaper to have flowers painted, e.g. tulips by Judith Leyster or all sorts of fantastic flowers by Rachel Ruysch.

                                   

        Judith Leyster, Tulip                                       Rachel Ruysch, Flowers in a Glass Vase

Photos by courtesy of:  wikiart.org/en/judith-leyster/tulip   and omeka.wustl.edu/…ries/flowersinaglassvase

 

Painting Chrysanthemums and Other Flowers

Nowadays everybody can really afford to buy some flowers occasionally to enjoy and paint them. My ones I buy quite often after a weekend, reduced to clear. Sometimes they last up to another 2 weeks even.

For inspiration on how to go about such a painting, it is always possible to look up some famous flower pictures. Some years ago, I painted a bunch of Chrysanthemums à la Rachel Ruysch in pastels, not that she ever painted Chrysans or with pastels. Chrysans are just cheap and easy to get year round everywhere. And don’t they look great! There are about 500 different varieties of them with all sorts of shapes and colours. To dive in!

Do enjoy your colourful fruit and veggies and flowers. Paint and eat.

For more on art and photography visit my website: arthenning.com