Skin Color

A person's skin color is determined by the amount of melanin in the skin, which is the skin's pigment. The greater the amount of melanin, the darker a person's skin will be, ranging from nearly pure white to almost black. Some people, known as albinos do not have any melanin in their skin, causing it to be actually white, with only a pinkish tint due to the blood in the skin.
Melanin is present in human skin because it helps protect against an excess of harmful UV rays. As a person's skin is exposed to the sun, more melanin is produced, causing a darker overall pigment, and therefore the appearance of a "tan". If a person is wearing clothing such as a t-shirt, the melanin will not produce more in that area since it is already being protected from the UV rays by an external source, thereby resulting in what we commonly know as a "farmer's tan".
Variations in skin color date back to early evolution times, when humans hadn't yet evolved from chimpanzees in Africa. When the standard light-skinned dark-haired chimps started to evolve and lose their hair, over time and evolution their skin became darker to help protect against the very UV intense region of Africa. However when humans eventually began to migrate further north where the sun exposure was less intense their skin evolved back to being more pale, which would allow them to absorb the needed amounts of vitamin D. This biological and evolutionary process is what skin color is grounded upon.



sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_skin_color

Color in Gemstone Minerals

For my blog entry I decided to research how and why gemstones are certain colors. Upon doing reading, I discovered that the color in the gems is actually due to impurity ions with other elements. Some elements such as Iron, Chromium, Titanium, Manganese, and many others cause color in minerals. For example, a ruby that contains less than one percent of Chromium will be a red color, but if the ruby has no Chromium will have no color at all.
The intensity of the gem color is also correlated to the amount of the impurity it contains. For example, Beryl that contains Manganese (Mn) is a pink color when it has Mn++ ions in it. However, Beryl with Mn+++ ions in it is red. Therefore with the addition of more positive ions, the color is intensified. However each element ion is not specific to a color, since the same element will turn different gems to different colors. To use Chromium as an example again, in a ruby the Cr+++ will show up as red. However, in beryl Cr+++ will appear emerald green, and in alexandrite its is a purple red color.
Another type of color variation is called a Color Center. This is a color of the gem due to imperfections in the color causing element usually due to damage from radiation. These radioactive waves cause some of the electrons in the atoms to separate due to excess energy and relocate at a new place, which causes an imbalance in the ions there, creating a Color Center. These chemical processes are the cause of visible colors which we see in minerals and gems.

source: http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~eps2/wisc/Lect7.html#Perceive

For my blog I decided to research tropical fish and their colors. This led to reading a surprisingly interesting article about a fish study concerning how color affects species development. The study was conducted by McGill University and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and it involved watching how hamlet fish, also known as Hypoplectrus, of certain colors interacted behaviorally with others of similar and of different colors.
They found that both mating and feeding behaviors had a correlation to the color of the fish. They found that fish of similar colors would mate together, thereby creating more and contributing to the development of a new species over time by creating a distinct genetic pattern. In addition to mating behavior, they found that the fish used their color to their advantage for feeding purposes. The predatory Hypoplectrus fishes would track their prey (which were non-predatory fish) by choosing prey of a similar color pattern to its own. This is because the non-predatory fish are usually not frightened of other non-predatory fish, and by blending in to the others, the predatory Hypoplectrus allowed itself to be "camouflaged" in a sense.
The researchers eventually came to the conclusion that the thirteen different colors of fish were all evolving into different species. Most species classifications are usually based on environmental factors such as climate, that thereby affect the behavior and evolution of the animal. Genetic variations alone in the genus of animals is also not enough to classify them as separate species if they don't have any known behavioral differences. However, these were all coral reef tropical fish, but due to their own color and the resulting behavior they could be classified as different species.

Sources:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070612142947.htm
http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/w574701gp8255474/?p=8a005fba211341a9a48fbdfc09257c44&pi=8

Color Body Painting Project

Instead of painting nine color compositions in monochromatic, complimentary, and analogous schemes, our group decided to incorporate performance art with color. We chose to do this because all of us had already done something very similar to this color mixing exercise in high school, so we then proposed the body paint idea. We used non toxic tempera paint to paint color compositions onto our skin in varying arrangements. We designated each of our four group members for a role; Chris would be monochromatic, Bart would be analogous, and Paulette and I would be complimentary. We designated that I would get the paints by next week, and then that class we would paint each other, and present it near the end of class.
I bought the paints which totaled about thirteen dollars, and we will then split the cost between the four of us. The next class we began to sketch out what we planned to paint on each other. We painted Bart first, and decided that analogous seemed to be the most "wild", or varied, color scheme, so we painted him with both geometric and organic shapes, including facial warpaint, in a variety of red analogous colors. The next up was Paulette and myself, since we were both the complimentary scheme. For this composition we used bands of tape to section off our arms from the elbow to the hand. On my left arm the band closest to my elbow we painted full green, and for each band getting closer to my hand, we added more red paint to the green, finally reaching a muddy brown at my hand. We did the same to Paulette except with red on her arm. The final person was Chris, who we used a monochromatic composition on. We wanted to make it very geometric, so we used removable tape to section off portions of his back according to basic anatomical structure. For example, we taped about twelve small squares down a line on top of his spine, and three triangular "ribs" on either side. As Paulette taped, I painted varying shades and tints of red. After we were all complete we stood in front of the white wall to present it. Paulette stood to my right and we both help our arms so that our fists met in the center, where the color was exactly the same, and Chris turned around and stood facing the wall. I feel that this exercise helped me in my Fine Art major because it not only taught me more about color, but also about performance art. In fact I found this to be more helpful in learning about performance art than the activities we completed last semester. Overall, I really enjoyed it and found it to be fun and educational project.

Color Mixing Blog

As I sat at my desk mixing seven different shades of yellow mixed with violet, I was definately wondering how this would really help me in my art school career. I figured that if we are already in art college, certainly everyone already knows how to mix color. As I continued to mix each different shade of yellow, it became more apparent that this activity did in fact serve a useful purpose. I began to realize that this was actually somewhat helpful in learning about the interactions of colors. Watching the yellow turn to a progressivley more repulsive shade of brown allowed me to see the exact progression on the hue when it is mixed with its compliment.
I picked the color yellow for my color mixing project because it is my least favorite color out of the primaries, so I wouldn't feel as bad wasting so much paint. After completing the assignment, my opinion really hasn't changed greatly. I think i dislike yellow less, but it is still nowhere close to my favorite color. Yellow just doesn't hold any appeal for me at all, maybe because it always seems that unpleasant items are yellow in color. Things such as peeling old wall paper, lemons, plastic raincoats, and greasy potato chips, just to name a few. It's basically such an obnoxious color, and it usually dominates anything in a color scheme unless used very sparingly.

Color wheel blog

After completing my acrylic paint version of the Munsell color wheel, I took the time to research other color wheel organizations, since the Munsell system is often said to be flawed. I found several models online, including a cube, a cone, and several graphs. I found the double cone model, also called HSV, to be the most easily understandable. HSV stands for Hue, Saturation, and Lightness, which is exactly what the model demonstrates. It has a central vertical axis which represents value, and at the top is pure white, and at the very bottom is pure black, with middle grey in the very middle. Around this middle grey mark the double cone extends to its widest points, and at the very edge of that widest circle each hue or color is at its full saturation. The further in towards the center you move, the less saturated each hue becomes as it moves toward the middle grey.
Also, as you move down towards the bottom of the upside down cone, the hues become less saturated, and darker since it is moving towards pure black. The opposite applies for moving up in the direction of the top of the cone, where the value is becoming lighter. These factors provide a clear explanation for the naming of this model. This model was developed in the the 1970's for the purpose of being visually comprehendable, unlike many of the graphs. It took Munsell's theory and built off of it, and it is still in use today especially for computer graphics.

Color Context

The first object, or rather group or objects, is extremely brightly colored candy in the shapes of various assorted pieces of fruit. They are clearly very artificial colors, only roughly based off of the original fruit. They are however effective in attracting attention, particuarly for children as a target audience. They are cute inexpensive small pieces of candy in a dispensing machine of about a child's height. In these candies, the particular color clearly does not make a difference in the actual taste difference, so it is obviously only there for attracting buyers. The colors present here, such as canary yellow, and cerulean blue are fairly fast, energetic colors, likely intended to make the buyer want to grab some candy and go. They are not muted earthy tones, but instead rather frenzied and lively, and the entire assortment seems quite chaotic. Overall, these candy colors are meant to quickly grab the viewer's attention to buy some, then continue with their shopping.

The second object is an arrangement of pink and white roses, as well as red and white roses. With this color combination, Valentine's day immediatly springs to mind. These colors are actually natural, since they are on real flowers, and they certainly imply love and caring, since people give each other roses on Valentine's day to show those exact emotions. In this situation the red certainly does not infer "anger" or "danger", but instead affection. The white contrasts aesthetically well with the red or pink, but it also ads a slight angelic quality. These colors when used on flowers clearly indicate love and attachment, quite the opposite from any red danger signs for example.