Week #40, Hello Yellow I

Untitled (Yellow, Blue and Brown Abstract), 1975, watercolor on paper, 3 5/8” x 3 1/8”.

In light of the season, I thought it would be nice to share some works that feature golden-yellow tones. We do not get a tremendous range of fall foliage here on the coast, partly since we have so many live oaks that, although deciduous, stay green throughout the year, and partly due to the pines, cedars, magnolias which are not known for any kind of fall foliage extravaganza.

Dusti Bongé was known for liking all colors, and judging from her work, she meant it. Still, of course, the presence of certain colors may wind up more prevalent than others in her work. This could be based on so many things, mood, season, the scale of the work, light conditions, subconscious associations with events or concepts, or something as simple as whatever paints you have available at the time.

Early on in her career, Dusti enjoyed painting sunflowers (not as much as Van Gogh), thus using quite a bit of yellow. It appears less in her surrealist work, and mainly as an accent color in her abstract work. Later in life, when she turned to working more on smaller pieces, she allowed it to be the central color in some of these, as this small gem of a work on paper shows.

From top to bottom a field of golden yellow extends from the right edge of the work past the center and toward the left. Washing over three quarters of the paper’s surface, its shade gets slightly deeper and then trails off to the top left into a deep ochre. The rest of its left edge is accented by a bold stroke of dark blue, which in turn is accented by a bright blue edge.

Floating slightly off center in the sea of saffron are two thin ochre vertical marks sandwiching a white line. These various accents within and along the edge of the yellow field only make its vibrant presence stronger. Interestingly, as bright as this work is, Dusti herself considered yellow the color of suffering...