The Third Color Wheel

The Third Color Wheel

collection of Dr. Daren Martin

This painting is a postulate on my theory that there is a third color wheel.

Science tells us of the prismic color wheel of light refracted and all of the physics that go along with our understanding of rainbows and light frequencies.

There is also the color wheel of pigment and it's combinations of primary colors to make secondary colors and the whole array of colors used in material applications. The color wheel is an amazing tool and I amazed at the complexity of it truths in how colors combine and harmonize.

It seemed to me that there is a strong possibility of there being a third color wheel. I was looking through a really great art book http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-History-Art-David-Piper/dp/0517065134 and was looking at the Aurignacian cave drawings in Lascaux, France and made notice of the colors that were used. It also happens (lo, the serendipities!) that I watched an informational program on the production of paint. I was introduced to Titanium Dioxide as the main chemical component of white pigment. I followed my nose and researched titanium and discovered Titanium Dioxide has three forms Anatase (black), Brookite(red), and Rutile(white). I think I might have cried when I made this discovery.

The colors black, red, and white have deep, mysto-symbolic meanings attached to them and so I began to formulate the combinations of meaning and painted them into the three characters in the bottom of the painting. The individual wearing black is Death's (decay) Energy and wears the white hat (the knowledge of) of Seed's (semen and breastmilk) Energy. Death whispers to Blood's Energy whose beard represents Strength of Seed, and a black and white hat (knowledge of Death and the secrets of Seed). Seed's Energy wears the mantle of Death as it's burden and the knowledge of Blood. Seed looks to Sustanance who pours her gifts into the mystical fluid of the Spiritual experience. The hand holds the Excalibur (the Gift) out of the river of the Spiritual experience as the river winds towards the ocean (the greater Spiritual experience) while the cathedral represents the house of the Unknown (by it semaphore as it's spire), or Faith. True faith is not knowing and not needing to know... it is the highest level of Trust and often times can only be understood in hindsight. The ships (the Corporeal) are sailing off into the celestial existance of ocean and moon (the dead planet that reflects light).

Needless to say, I was studying Alchemy and my theory of a third color wheel is that it exists concurrent within the Physical, Metaphysical, and Spiritual trinity of human experience.