To register for this course email
info@freecolumbia.org
COLOR AS A WAY TO THE SPIRIT
Current Block:Color and Contemplation
Taught by Laura Summer
Wednesdays at 10 AM ET
Using watercolor in both wet and dry approaches we will develop our sensitivities to color. How does blue feel different from red? How is one blue different from another?
This course will include written and video instruction as well as weekly group calls with participants from all over the world. All sessions will be recorded so if you cannot make that time you can watch later.
For 7 sessions we will explore this by painting.
Do you want to develop your capacity in the world of color perception, interaction and dynamic? Working with painting and drawing can be health giving and transformative. Working with color and composition in relation to meaning and expression can be life engendering for your soul. Whatever style of painting you are inclined toward, understanding color and composition will increase your capacity and enjoyment of your work.
When we begin to work with color we are often swayed by our likes and dislikes, but as painters we must move beyond this and learn the language of color. Although we see color with our eyes the experience of color is in the realm of quality and that realm is at first quite subtle. We must learn to quiet our sympathies and antipathies, cast off intellectual associations and listen to what the color is. Although you may at first wrinkle your brow in doubt at this, color is a non-material reality. To understand and to work with it as a partner we must learn to speak its language. Observe in yourself how one color feels, how is it different from another? Ask yourself the questions of the quality realm: Is it heavy or light? Is it warm or cold? Is it lively or still? Does it move toward me or away, and such.
This course will include written and video instruction as well as weekly group calls with participants from all over the world. Through this creative work a supportive transcultural community will be formed. Often in a group, working together, we can feel inspiration and understanding flow between us.
The course will be taught in blocks of 4 - 10 weeks. You can join at the beginning of any block. Blocks 2026/2027 include:
Color and Contemplation: September/October
Color Mood: November/December
Color Dynamic: January/ February
Color Devotion: March/May
Tuition: Free Columbia is committed to making the cultural realm financially accessible to everyone. Each block is on a sliding scale of $0-200. A sliding scale tool is available.
Acknowledgements:
Many people have been my teachers over the years. Many of these exercises were developed out of the exercises of Jennifer Thomson, Ella Manor Lapointe, and Nathaniel Williams as well as, of course, Rudolf Steiner and Goethe.
To register for this course email info@freecolumbia.org