Monochromatic

I know that I am a day late in posting my weekly blog and I am sorry.  I have family visiting tomorrow and needed to get some much needed cleaning done first.  My son is turning one this Friday and I am excited and sad at the same time.  I am sad because the year went so fast and he has grown from being my little baby to my little boy who loves to understand the world around him.  Everyone always says "the first year goes so fast" and I know I am going to say the "cliche" comment to that statement....they were right.  But, I am so excited to see my son grow and see his little personality bursting at the seams.  I love him dearly and can not wait to teach him about art, like I am teaching you.

Today, I am going to give a short lesson on "Monochromatic".  According to Merriam-Webster Online dictionary the term Monochromatic is defined as: having or made up of one color or shades of one color.  I would like to add to that definition by first saying the word color can be called "hue".  So Monochromatic artwork is made up of tints and shades of one hue.  So if you have a painting that is monochromatic....you would only use say for example, red.  ONLY red.  That is it!  So, that is what makes it monochromatic.

I can not talk about monochromatic work without talking about Pablo Picasso and his famous "blue period".  While Picasso was creating work between the years 1901-1904 he only created blue monochromatic paintings while he lived in Barcelona.  During this time, like most artists, he had trouble selling these famous works but of course has sold them now after he has passed and it has become one of his most famous periods of creating work.  Why he did this...not many people can explain.  I like to think he was sad....that's why he chose to use the color blue.  Either way, this is a great example of monochromatic painting.

So, go out and try and create a monochromatic piece of artwork.  You might just find that it can be more difficult then you think.

"The Old Guitarist" by Pablo Picasso