“It’s not brown, it’s sunset orange” – a review of ‘what colour is that?’

“It’s not brown it’s sunset orange” – one of my favourite Grand Tour quotes that has always stuck in my head. In a way, it encapsulates the Leeds Philosophical and Literary society’s talk on what ‘colour’ is.

I must admit that I went into this event with the artistic levels of a toddler. To those that say anyone can paint, the watercolour I did of my girlfriend (a picture that still haunts my dreams) may change your mind. 

What was the talk?

The talk was hosted on the 27th of February by the artist Trevor Burgess who’s painting focus has largely been on urban landscapes. His talk was split up into three broad subjects: colour as paint vs light, colour as space and colour as light.

Colour as paint vs light:

Here the difference between the colour of paint and the colour of light was discussed. From the outset I learnt something quite embarrassing (as this is something I feel I should already know): that the primary colours of light are red, green and blue, whilst the primary colours of paint are blue, red and yellow.

The next difference is that, whilst we have the primary colours we also have the visible light spectrum, that we think is made up of 7 colours, while in reality, and in painting, there are millions of colours that are different shades – something the paint companies have cottoned on to as no one has ever just bought a paint simply called ‘blue’.

The final difference comes in the texture of paint. Although the talk was discussing colour, an important part of painting is the texture of the paint on the canvas and how that helps to work with the colours to create an image that is more than light.

Colour as space:

Next Trevor explored the role that colour can play in the creation of space and form. Using some of his own early paintings, he showed us how depth can be created through using different colours and their warmth to help portray two objects at different depths.

What was truly impressive about this work was that although the general rule was that dark colours help to push objects to the background, when they are working with other, warmer colours, they can break this rule and actually draw attention to objects in the foreground.

Colour as light:

Finally, the speaker explored the way artists can project light through their paintings and how changes to this can radically influence how we see the image.

To start this section, Trevor explored colours and warmth. Although yellows, oranges, reds and pinks are often used to project warmth and blues and greens are considered ‘cool’, this is more guidance than a rule. Different factors such as the colours around, the object being painted and the choice of colour can all help influence the effect that is projected. This means that blue can be involved in projecting warmth, such as when it is in a painting of a summer day.

Following this came the section I found most interesting when Trevor presented the idea of colour inversion, because he linked it to politics. Trevor uses the ‘negative’ of the natural observed colour to radically change the meaning of the image and make us rethink what we are seeing.

One of the images shown to us was the inversion of a night painting done of a picture in Brussels before the Brexit decision was made. This changed which areas were light, largely making the people much darker whilst the air became slightly lighter. By inverting the colour of this image the meaning of it changed from representing Trevor’s bright views of Europe to a darker image that reflected his feelings of alienation following Brexit.

My assessment:

In one word, the talk was incredible.

I went in with, I must admit, low expectations. As I said, I’m not an artist and my capabilities probably haven’t developed from primary school, when mixing paint was more a vague attempt to not get a weird brown mush, than art.

These low expectations, however, were blown out of the water.

The LPLS is not a young organisation. I hope they don’t mind me saying that, but as a young person I did not feel too out of place. The people running it were incredibly kind and happy to help. Everyone around seemed happy to see me and excited at the idea of more young people engaging with the society.

Apart from the hospitality, the event in general was fantastic. Trevor was a great speaker who kept the talk engaging with a mixture of rhetorical questions, time to study what were some very nice paintings and a bit of humour (and of course some politics, although that’s not a win for everyone). 

Not only was the talk informative, but it was also engaging. I learnt more about colour than I have in a long time and I found the time talking about colour inversion, especially interesting as it explored completely new ideas for me.

I have to give the talk:

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A bonus has to be seeing a painting by the grandad of one of my friends, although that might not be a draw for most people.

Words by Archie Sykes