[Mike McCarty]

I always appreciate an opportunity to show my ignorance.

Is it possible that an artist can have an eye for color the way a musician can have an ear for music?

I understand when someone says they play music "by ear." I, not in an accomplished way, play the harmonica. I know nothing about written music but I can mimic what I hear pretty well. I have heard that there are very accomplished musicians who cannot do this at all. They must read music in order to play music.

Could it be that there is a similar dynamic with regard to an artist either "seeing, then painting color and value intuitively", the way a musician would "play by ear." OR, an artist having to "read and paint color" the way it is presented above in this thread?