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ARCHIVE
2010

apr days
• color
concept &
theory widgets and apps

mar days
• red:
a portrait of a artist rothko

feb days
• talking
heads as figure/ground

jan days
• tanja's
black light dance party

ARCHIVE
2009

dec days
• tootsie roll pop wrappers colors & flavors

nov days
• stephen vitiello's four color sound

oct days
• atmospheric perspective

sept days
• a rainbow
of antioxidants
colors

aug days
• floor stain colorants

jul days
• minimal colors

jun days
• wildflowers cataloged by color

may days
• tennis court colors

apr days
• morandi's neutral colors

mar days
• grid colorists

feb days
• black as
film noir

jan days
• flood of toxic minerals used in paints

ARCHIVE
2008

dec days
• comple-mentary
colors

nov days
• kettle korn
packaging color change

oct days
• green fluorescent protein

sept days
• red palms - not green

aug days
• blue tunes

jul days
• “blue” - textile museum

jun days
• “fiesta- ware”
colorants

may days
• “blue alchemy” hive gallery

apr days
• “sennelier” selecting
watercolours for travel

black as film noir

The seventh annual Film Noir festival is just ending today on February 1, 2009. This year's Noir City 7 festival started on January 23 and was programmed by by Eddie Muller and Anita Monga. Check out Eddie Muller's extensive publications on this topic.
Link: eddiemuller.com/inprint.html

Film Noir – defined as an American genre or instead as a distinct visual style – provides a “dead hit” of lively color theory topics:
• art history techniques: Baroque chiaroscuro painting technique
• art medium: printing inks
• physiology: the use rod receptor cells
• film technology: black & white film vs. color
• art styles: the influence of the “film traditions of German expressionism of the twenties French poetic realism of the thirties”*
* See full article: Does Film Noir mirror the culture of contemporary America?
1/10 Introduction, By Lise Hordnes – Link: let.rug.nl/~usa/E/noir/noir01

topics below:
chiaroscuro and newspaper printing inks.

I was lucky enough to see 4 of the films from this year's festival.

Friday, January 23
• DEADLINE USA
• SCANDAL SHEET

Friday, January 30
• THE UNSUSPECTED
• DESPERATE.

Baroque chiaroscuro painting technique

Still from
Murder My Sweet
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Date: 1944
Starring: Dick Powell,
Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley, Otto Kruger, Mike Mazurki
Cinematography: Harry J. Wild

The Supper at Emmaus Painting by the Italian Baroque master: Caravaggio
Date: 1601
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Location: National Gallery, London

Newspaper Printing Inks

“As the technology for offset lithographic printing presses developed to its current state-of-the-art, the fountain solution and inks have been reformulated to meet the demands of faster running presses.

Modern offset lithographic inks, referred to as nonheatset because they work at ambient air temperatures, can be either petroleum-based or vegetable oil-based. They all contain at least pigments and nondrying ink oils, and a “vehicle” comprised of resins, drying oils, and nondrying ink oils.

News inks contain pigments, ink oils, and in some cases, toners -- water-soluble dye that has been made oil-soluble.

Resin composition can vary and is dependent upon the desired properties of the finished product.

Ink oil falls into a class of highly refined petroleum oils that will not readily evaporate. These oils are approved for direct food contact and are used in a variety of common food and pharmaceutical products.”

Citation: Newspaper Association of America
Click to read full article

How we see in the dark using rod receptor cells

“Rod cells, or rods, are photoreceptor cells in the retina of the eye that can function in less intense light than can the other type of photoreceptor, cone cells. Because they are more light sensitive, rods are responsible for night vision. Named for their cylindrical shape, rods are concentrated at the outer edges of the retina and are used in peripheral vision. There are about 90 million rod cells in the human retina.

A rod cell is sensitive enough to respond to a single photon of light[citation needed], and is about 100 times more sensitive to a single photon than cones. Because rods require less light to function than cones, they are therefore the primary source of visual information at night (isotopic vision).”

Citation Answers.com
Click to read full article