My mom’s an artist - she paints. In my absolutely unbiased opinion, she totally rocks. Don’t take my word for it. Check out her work yourself. She normally paints with a technique called “grisaille” – she does an underpainting first in shades of gray, and then puts color on top of it. It’s pretty amazing to watch. Oh – you can watch it yourself. It’s on youtube. And for a little extra education – “grisaille,” loosely translated from French, means “gray tones.”
It’s a complex process, but it’s not just her paintings that are complex. Most things in this world come in shades of gray, because people are complex too. Wouldn’t it be unfortunate if you were so inflexible that you never recognized there was anything but black and white? (At any rate, it would certainly kill the grisaille method.)
In my professional life, I deal in grays all the time. Granted, my work isn’t the same as my mom’s, but work with me here – I didn’t get those creative painting genes, so I’m doing my best with what I’ve got. Of course, in order to really grasp the grays, you’ve got to understand the rules that come with black and white. That’s just common sense. But when I’m at work (or anywhere else!) I remember that grays exist, and that’s part of what makes this life so interesting. The next time you’re out and about, take a look at the grays. You just might surprise yourself at what you find.
*PS – Notice my mom’s shirt is gray? Oh yeah, I totally planned that. Well, actually I didn’t. But I thought it was cool anyway.
