Colour vision profoundly affects us all but what is it?
This interesting question came up again today via a post on Facebook by my friend Lynda Chase-Gardener.
“Special eyes” said Francis Pratt of The painting School of Montmiral.
Francis has to be one of the world’s leading authorities on this subject, one that illuminates all our lives. 
As a visual artist I’ve spent many years studying, experimenting and working with experts on aspects of colour vision, in particular Francis Pratt and quite separately, with David Folley,
“Special eyes”; explained the sometimes odd paintings I have produced since childhood.
I remember being hurt, mocked by my daughter Hannah, a touch of jealousy there maybe …
For many years, while it was clear I have a rich colour experience, it was a handicap if I wanted to paint colour normal pictures.
Odd things happened; I found (and still do) some colours ‘difficult’.
Eventually, slowly, painfully, I learned to turn this ‘disability’ to our advantage, learning how to use it to produce outstanding paintings.
Surprise ?
I could’n’t see the number, no surprise given my very unusual colour vision in simplest terms my eyes are “deuteranope“.
About 12 % of men and 4 % of women are deuteranopes.
Given we exist in an unforgiving world that seems to penalise via chance, luck and evolution, why would so many people be deuteranopes?
I have a rare form of anomalous colour vision, actually much more complex than a deuteranope thus as an artist, my colours challenge and excite many people, qualities shared with a some of the great masters of the past, Degas and Monet to name but two.
You can discover more about my colour vision and that of some of the ‘Great’ artists on page http://www.frickers.co.uk/…/some-advantages-of-gordon-fric…/
Then… somewhat to my surprise, gradually I was able to see a set of numbers, not clearly, as if through a fog but like the bright navigation lights of a ship or plane, definitely ‘there’.
What do you make of that?
You can see many of my colour experiments in particular among the landscapes on this web site, www.artfrickers.com
Can you spot which of the paintings are outright experiments and which were ‘natural reactions ?
