This is my 500th Post! I've decided to send a small hand made gift (or 2) to one of the blog readers who leaves a comment and answers my question. This is a "pull the name out of hat" thing, there's no right or wrong answer. Read on....I have always thought that everyone sees colours and patterns when they close their eyes. Apparently, this is not so. I see beautiful clear colours, and often intricate designs and patterns - sometimes when I'm asked "where do you get your inspiration from?", I can only reply that I've"seen" them in my head. I had no idea that this was not what everyone did. Above are some blues that I've dyed this weekend in an attempt to get the blue I "saw", and I have some greens percolating at present.
So my question is: do you see colours and designs too? And if you're an artist of any kind, do you use these in your work?
PS I am adding this after reading the first few comments - I don't TRY to see anything, the colours and designs come completely unbidden and are unrelated to anything I'm working on.
19 comments:
Interesting question Shirley. Most of my ideas are formed in my head and then worked out to what they will eventually become after some refinements etc. I'm not exactly sure I 'see' them as you describe but whenever I close my eyes my brain goes into what I call Artists mode, reshaping and remaking the things I have seen during the day into colors and patterns that I can work into my art. Somehow I believed that most artists think in this way. This is a new revelation to me too!
Congratulations on your 500th post Shirley! I always mentally "see" the hsapes and patterns of the image I am trying to achieve but I do not physically see them when I close my eyes. The most fascinating image I have seen but with eyes open was at the opticians when a special light was shone in my eyes and I could see an intricate pattern like the veins in a leaf. It was amazing and not something I had seen before.
Congratulations on the milestone! I don't think I see like you do. Most of my best ideas come to me as I am waking in the morning. They just pop into my head out of nowhere. I do seem to have good color memory for some reason. I can see a color and usually match it from memory later.
I don't visualize a finished piece. If I'm not following a pattern I just jump in and see where it takes me.
Hi Shirley. Congrats on 500 entries. As for your question - Years ago I was a passenger in a car pool. I would put my head back and design warps (was a weaver)in my head. Not sure if that is considered a design but I do think in pictures. In word association tests I see my answer but have to struggle to find a word. A cone of yarn or piece of fabric will tell me what it needs to be. I don't pay much attention as to how or where I get what comes out of my head and hands.
Congrats on the 500 posts!
Most of my ideas anymore come to me in the middle of the nite - sometimes I wake up and write a note in my notebook beside my bed but sometimes its still there when I wake up in the morning.
I think just living life to the fullest everyday brings about ideas - as we are walking, as we are looking at the sky, or the colours in nature! Somedays, I'm overwhelmed with ideas.......
after reading your P.S. I must say that I dont see like that. when I close my eyes I see darkness with some patterning going on but not with vibrant colors as you have described. Sounds like something I wish I could see! And Congrats on the milestone posts!
Congrats on your 500th post! When I am having a hard time going to sleep, I visualize colors and patterns and then drift off. I have used the visualization as a jumping off point for quilt designs and garden projects. Interesting question, I thought everyone did it!
I am envious. You are obviously gifted with a natural talent. This shows in your work. Most of us are 'try hards'. But I still love the doing and will keep on creating.
Congrats on your 500th post - your question: YES I see both colours and designs in my head all the time but have great difficulty getting them out - if I try to make notes or draw a design in a sketchbook it never turns out like the design in my head. I would like to find some way of getting that info out.
It's interesting that you posed this question since it came up at Fabrications on the 8th. I do see rich, saturated colours and patterns and full-blown pictures. A woman in our class says she sees only the words, no images of any kind. My youngest son sees everything in terms of symbols and mathematical formulae.
It's interesting how we are all so different. I don't fully envision a piece before it is done...at least not typically. I "go with the flow"....
teri
Congrats on your 500th, Shirley!
In answer to your question, I do not always see designs, but I *do* see colors. It's convenient because I don't need to carry items around with me to match colors. Somewhere in the world there exists a color that goes with what's in my head...and it's fun because you never know where you'll end up in searching for the color!
Yes I see colours and designs and can 'carry' a colour in my head (very useful for matching threads and in one case getting the exact colour blind for a newly painted room). I've heard it expressed as the colour equivalent of perfect pitch in music and if you can think of a tune in your head , I don't see how that is so very different from thinking out a design. Congratulations on 500 posts - I was thrilled to achieve my first 100 recently
Shirley - that is an interesting question. I envy you. Designs and patterns - no problem but colours are something I have had to work on. I have only seen colour in my head quite recently and it doesn't always happen. I have always wished that I could carry a colour around in my head but it has not been so - definitely improved colour memory but not 100% accurate.
Do you mean moving patterns on your eyelids? if so - yes if not then I'm obviously weird!!
Shirley, you are lucky! Especially colors are hard for me to just visualize them in my head.
Congratulations on your 500th post! Love your blog :)
Dagmar
You know, I've never thought about it! I don't see colours and patterns when I close my eyes - unless I'm having a migraine angel :-(
So where DO my ideas come from? usually word play, I think. Words trigger designs for me.
Congrats on 500!
No, I not good at seeing colors in my mind. Like, I think I know what color I am looking for when I go to the fabric store, but when I get home with what I purchased it is not the right one.
Answer to question 1, Yes always
and 2, Sometimes but there are too many to use them all!
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