I find colour and my responses to it fascinating. Overall, I am drawn to jewel tones, my favourites being purple and teal, but followed close behind by blue and green. I like red if it is a deep red/burgundy. Orange and yellow are my least favourite colours, except in autumn when they signify the end of summer. I love them then, but in dark tones, not bright ones. Last autumn, some friends came to visit and they brought me flowers--a lovely autumnal bouquet. My friend apologized because she said after she got them, she remembered that I like purples and blues. I assured her they were perfect and just what I love at the time of year.
When we moved into our last apartment, I quite enjoyed the fact that the chair, two-seater, and curtains were all deep violet. I was not thrilled with the colour scheme here, which is grey and yellow with a bit of blue. I love grey and love blue, but the yellow--no thanks. I have gotten used to the yellow drapes, throw pillows, kettle, toaster, and canisters, but none of them would be my first choice. Still, I am not a home dec kind of gal. I feel extremely uncomfortable in places that are all coordinated and decorated just so. I cannot relax in them. This is residue from the houses I grew up in. Because rentals are furnished here, and we've lived in several of them, we end up with a bit of this and a bit of that--the small pieces of art and craft, books, and other stuff we bring with us and whatever is already there. We have a large heavy blanket a friend gave us that I love. It's beige, brown, deep green, deep red, and deep blue. I have used it as a blanket, but mostly, I have just tossed it over a two-seater or a couch and enjoy it that way. I have it covering the couch as I type this. It doesn't match the yellow, but it does provide me with some relief from it! It also protects the couch. I know some people would be appalled. That's OK. I am interested in functionality and comfort, not design and appearance.
I often get entranced by colour and colour combinations when I am creating. As with everything else in my life, I am an improv sort of gal here, too. I work almost entirely with orphan supplies--scraps, bits of this and that given to me by others, random yarn, thread, fabric, and embellishments I find in charity shops. Often these things are in colours I would not necessarily choose, but because I have them, I use them and placed with other colours, my perception of them changes. This is one reason I love scrappy projects--I never know what surprises will arise. It can be one colour interacting with another or it can be two colours of thread held together and seeing how they play together that piques my interest.
There's an art gallery next to the library here--they're in the same building. We meandered through an exhibition last month after we were done at the library. I was not surprised to be drawn to a couple of abstracts that were deep blue with texture--line and shape are also a source of fascination with me. What did surprise me was how much I loved a huge corner piece. It was squares painted on larger shapes that were arranged in a certain configuration. The squares were mostly neon colours, primarily pink. This is not at all my usual thing. But I loved it. It made me smile. It also made me think. I like the cool jewel tones because I find them calming and peaceful. I dislike warm colours, particularly bright ones, because they create a hum of agitation in me, which I do not need, particularly at certain times of the year. But this work, with its neon pink, green, and other bright colours, just made me happy.
What colours do you like?
