Brushing Up In Art Class

This week my little camera phone was recording the painterly qualities in art classes. Paint is the glory of the artist. Human eyes, after all, have the most sophisticated color vision of all mammals. Only Chimpanzees and Gorillas share our ability to see the full range of color, and only humans, so far as we can tell, can appreciate and celebrate the richness of color in poetic and artistic ways. Humans are the only animals to visualize the world as line and tone. Art is one of the few things that is totally unique to human beings. Color, even just a couple of colors transforms artwork into exciting temptations for the eye and brushwork gives rich variety and strength to line and tone. We can't help ourselves. Humans love color and contrast. Humans love pictures, especially drawings and paintings. We have been doing it for so many tens of thousands of years that it is in our bones and blood. And our favorite subject is the human body.