Brief visits into my mind

What is a vignette (vĭn-yĕt)?

It’s not typically a word we hear used in everyday conversation. I first learned of it close to 40 years ago when I was the art director for a large screen printing company in Maplewood. That was in the heyday of muscle cars, sporting colorful graphics. Many of these were printed for the automobile industry by my company. We did work for the Roadrunner, Super Bee, Firebird, Camaro Z28 and others. We produced the “laser stripe” in various colors for the Ford Torino GT and Ranchero, a vignette pattern also known in the printing industry as a graduated halftone. The stripe was a lighter color in front, graduating to a darker color as it flowed toward the rear. I remember it was one of our toughest jobs to print.

I use vignettes, or graduated patterns, in my paintings: in sky, or in mountains and water. I have always been challenged by them, working to keep the soft, seamless flow from light to dark, from warm to cold, and from soft to hard.

Other definitions of vignette are a brief, usually descriptive sketch; a short scene or incident; to describe briefly. I think those apply here, thus, the title of my blog, comprised of short stories describing my thoughts—brief visits into my mind where you may get a glimpse of the feelings that go into my art.

Until later,
Dennis