Layers Upon Layers: Mixed Media Art

Artist Profile: Tony Haze

by Cyndi on April 3rd, 2008

My name is Tony and I’m a color blind artist. I knew I saw differently in 1st grade, when I colored a picture with pink sheep. The class laughed at me and it halted my artistic expression until I was in my 40’s.

I can see major colors like red, yellow, blue. It’s the tints, shades, and secondary colors where I have trouble. For instance, light blue, light pink, & light purple look the same to me. Greens are the same as browns to me. There are varying degrees of color blindness, and some people see only gray, black and white! See Wikipedia for more information. Several tests on the right produce, for me, no numbers. I see nothing but a square of color.

My Dios de ls Muerte

In art classes, I always told the teacher & class about my color vision. In school, I noticed if I painted using all “wrong” colors, it was OK, as it’s common to see purple portraits & orange contrasts. But, if I used “correct” colors, but got one color off, someone always would always ask, “Why brown grass?” I found that annoying.

I took a class in Chinese painting. “Eagle” is one style, where you’re not allowed to go back to fix any stroke. During one of my attempts, the teacher said from the front of the room, “Tony, your eagle looks like a chicken.” So I kept trying!

One class, we painted San Francisco Bay while outside. I used greens right from the tube. For others, I made up recipes, like 1 part yellow mixed with 2 parts blue. I’m pleased with it. I made one mistake, though - I forgot to write down the recipes. I can’t go back to fix any greens, as I can’t match them now. (I’d like to extend the bush on the left a bit higher than the background hill.)

Does anyone know a color blind artist? Do any of you have children with this? (It affects boys/ men most often.)
If someone wants to make money, how about writing a book for color blind artists? With the estimate of 1 in 10 men having this, there’s truly a market out there.

San Francisco Bay

Are there any other artists out there who are color blind? The SF Bay painting is total “guess-work” for me, as I can’t tell the difference between greens and browns. We painted San Francisco Bay while outside. I used greens right from the tube. For others, I made up recipes, like 1 part yellow mixed with 2 parts blue. I’m pleased with it. I made one mistake, though - I forgot to write down the recipes. I can’t go back to fix any greens, as I can’t match them now. (I’d like to extend the bush on the left a bit higher than the background hill.) Comments are welcome!

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POSTED IN: Artist Profiles, Mixed Media, Paper