Orange
orange is a powerful, polarizing, and underrated color
Adelaida Orange by Erin Hanson
I am always looking for ways to push myself artistically and challenge the way I think about color and composition. I came up with the idea of focusing on a single color for a whole collection as a way to really delve into the boundaries of "orange" and explore how this color can be used in different landscapes to create an emotional impact. Whenever I push myself like this, I am always amazed at the creations that come out, and I am excited to see what this focus will bring to life. Erin Hanson
See
If you have had the opportunity to browse her portfolio, you will see that Hansen focuses on capturing the play of light and depth of shadow found in landscapes across the western United States. Many of her past paintings have shown a predominance of greens, blues, and reds; rarely has she ventured exclusively into the many shades of oranges. In Hanson’s The Orange Show, she dives deep into this color, capturing every tint of orange from amber to marigold.
The Orange Show 2016
Clockwise from upper left Monument in Orange, Guilded Path, Citrus Hills, Grand Canyon in Orange
Fins at Dawn by Erin Hanson, 40 x 50 in
The raw beauty of Arches National Park is captured in Fins at Dawn. This painting includes every shade from wine to apricot, showing how the natural progression of light changes red sandstone into something even more spectacular. (erinhanson.com)
Say
What do you think of the concept of choosing boundaries for your art and challenging yourself to work within them? Many artists throughout time have created themes or actual boundaries on themselves. Picasso, O'Keeffe, and Chuck Close are a few that come to mind.
Chat with someone about how boundaries can actually force the creative process.
Hanson is a mountain climber and spends a lot of time in the Southwest. How does she depict this intimacy with the landscape?
Do
Set some kind of boundary for a creative endeavor or problem that needs solving. Try it! Do you think the results are different than if you had not set the boundary?
Pretend the floor is molten lava, and you need to cross the room without getting burned!
Try to make a picture using just one color like Erin Hanson.
Read about Orange in Colors Explained to learn about Symbolism, common uses, and more.
About the Artist: Erin Hanson
Erin Hanson in her studio
How would you describe your style?
"I call my style 'Open Impressionism.' It is a unique blend of impressionism and expressionism, inspired by the natural landscape around me, the result of 20 years of experimenting with and painting in oils. The thick, chunky brush strokes seem to have a life of their own, and I get caught up in the energy and motion of the brush strokes while I am painting. I find my pieces tend to have a mosaic or stained glass quality, as I build up effects of light and shadow with contrasting values and color."
Hanging precariously and horizontally from red sandstone hundreds of feet above the ground may not seem like it would inspire the creation of beautiful oil paintings, but that is exactly what happened with Erin Hanson. After a lifetime of experimenting with different styles and mediums, it wasn’t until Hanson began rock climbing at Red Rock Canyon that her painting style was consolidated by a single inspiration and force of nature.
Erin Hanson began painting as a young girl, voraciously learning oils, acrylics, watercolor, pen and ink, pastels, and life drawing from accomplished art instructors. She began commissioning paintings at age ten, and by age twelve, she was employed after school by a mural studio, learning the techniques of acrylics on the grand scale of forty-foot canvases. Two years later, a high school scholarship took her to Otis College of Art, where she immersed herself in figure drawing. Graduating high school at age sixteen and once again demonstrating that she was a child prodigy, Hanson next attended UC Berkeley, excelling further in her studies and creative development and attaining a degree in Bioengineering.
After graduating from college, Hanson entered the art trade as a professional, inspired by landscapes and vantage points only beheld by the most adventurous. Rock climbing among the brilliantly colored cliffs of Nevada and Utah, watching the seasons and the light change daily across the desert, provided endless inspiration for her work. In these beautiful surroundings, Hanson decided firmly to dedicate herself to creating one painting every week for the rest of her life. She has stuck to that decision ever since and has for the past decade been developing a unique, minimalist technique of placing impasto paint strokes without layering, which has become known as “Open-Impressionism.” As other artists began emulating her painting techniques, Hanson was credited as the pioneer and originator of this contemporary style.
Through the years, Hanson has continued to use the outdoors to inspire a huge collection of work. She visits the Colorado plateau every year, backpacking and hiking through areas such as Zion National Park, Canyon de Chelly, and Monument Valley. Other favorite haunts include Paso Robles, Joshua Tree National Park, and the Anza-Borrego desert. Erin Hanson transforms these landscapes into abstract mosaics of color and texture, her impasto application of paint lending a sculptural effect to her art. Her oil paintings stand out in a crowd, bringing a fresh new look to Western landscapes.
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