Colourful fields

by Tiara Kroes

On a sheet of white paper is a rectangle full of colour. At the top, red and orange; below that, a strip of light blue; then a dark band of midnight blue and green; and at the bottom, yellow and grass green. You could see a landscape in it: fields, water, a sky still warm from the day. But it is just as much a play of colour.

The paint has been applied wet-on-wet, causing the colours to blend into one another and form edges as they dry. Chalk has been used over the top: in the top right-hand corner, a light blue arc extends beyond the rectangle onto the paper; on the right, you can see orange specks of chalk; and along the left-hand edge are two drops of bright blue. The edges of the coloured area are not crisp either; they fray out into shades of pink and red.

It is precisely the fact that the colour goes beyond the lines that makes this work so vibrant. It feels like a moment captured quickly and without hesitation, with the joy of creation still evident. It also raises a question: where does an image actually end? The rectangle draws a boundary, but the colour does not adhere to it. Just as a thought, a feeling or a life cannot be neatly contained within a frame.

The atmosphere is warm and open, and the dark centre lends the whole piece depth and weight. In a light-coloured interior with natural materials, it adds colour without being overpowering. Against a darker wall, however, the colours really glow and stand out even more.