Primary Colors by Jonathan Olvera

  

Green 

by Jonathan Olvera

The observable hints of green are live and decorative.

I enjoy the scene of green passage.

How splendid and natural it adorns our natural space.

Our breath is carried throughout this tree.

The sun burns and gives us more than just excitement.

The color is a gift of life.

I like it.

Yellow

by Jonathan Olvera

The giant sun paints the sky yellow.

It burns the stones and loosens the food of our fields.

Scenic and important to the inhabitant to see.

It makes a more subtle and definite presence.

Yellow is here.

It is strong.

Yellow is powerful.

Blue

by Jonathan Olvera

The color is in likeness of the ocean and the sky.

The immensity of this shade whispers of promise.

The promise of baptism and of a thirst to be gone.

It is great although I fear it.

How natural is one underneath this.

I want to live the promise.

Red

by Jonathan Olvera

Is my home.

It is the color of sacrifice and the promise of life.

Where can I find more of this shade.

In sin or forgiveness.

Hunger and Red.

I can be Red.

Artist Statement

“Primary Colors” by Jonathan Olvera
Inspired by the House of Naples

This work, Primary Colors, is a poetic and visual homage to the sacred and structured use of color in ancient life. Drawing from the preserved domestic frescos of the House of Naples, where pigment met prayer and pigment met purpose, I explore the foundational tones of green, yellow, blue, and red—not just as color, but as living language.

Each section of the piece is accompanied by original writing—brief poems that reflect not only the material presence of these colors in the world around us, but their spiritual resonance within us. From the green passage of trees, to the yellow sun that feeds our fields, to the blue vastness of sky and sea, and the red of home and sacrifice—this series is built as a devotional fresco in digital and literary form.

I see these colors as sacred pillars—emblems of life, promise, and transformation. Just as the ancients painted their walls to communicate with the divine and preserve the rhythms of nature, I write and layer these tones to reawaken our sense of wonder and belonging.

As a writer and artist from Phoenix, Arizona, the desert has taught me to revere what is simple yet essential. In Primary Colors, I honor what is most basic—color—and find in it what is most profound: life, breath, promise, and return.

— Jonathan Olvera