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?
13 comments:
Color is a drawn for me too. I never liked yellow until a while back. I am even slightly warming up to purple. Slightly. Thanks for this colorful post. It was a fun read.
I love blue. In my homes--moved 31 times, I have painted walls blue and decorated with blue...the ocean/the sky/soothing...I do not like bright colors of autumn for some reason...oranges...
I wear blue, red, etc.
In the condo, owned by my son for me to move to Florida, it has dark gray and dark turquoise walls...beachy feel...I have decorated in blues/white/other beachy colors. the living room has an old couch I gave him...it is dark green and doesn't fit in...so I ordered a gray chair...they will do for now until the gray couch is bought sometime in the future.
Truthfully, I am now a minimalist and my decorating days are behind me...just make it do and be comfortable...
BLue of the ocean...soothing...loving and kind blue...the sky in Florida is always an amazing blue...more beautiful than one can imagine...the blue skies in the Rockies...are amazing too...oh well...long post for this question...sorry.
I love purple and aqua in almost every variation. I feel very like you about orange and yellow. I don't want them in my garden or house UNLESS it is fall. And then I absolutely love them. Yet when christmas comes around I am happy to put them away again.
Purple makes me feel happy. I would not buy a car or a house in any shade of purple but I cannot help but smile when I see one.
Thanks, Erika! It's funny how we can come to like things we used to dislike and vice versa. I know you get to play with colour a lot in your artwork--such fun!
Brenda--thank you for answering and your comment was not too long at all! Your colour scheme sounds lovely! The sky is so interesting. I have spent time in Florida and know what you mean.I always remember the autumn sky in Fairbanks, which was sometimes a bright blue. The birch trees were golden by then and I would stand in the woods around our house and look up at the brilliant blue sky through the bright yellow leaves--magnificent!
Linda--yes! There is a time and place for orange and yellow--LOL At one time, I thought I might try quilting. It wasn't for me, but I remember being in a quilt shop with some friends and just standing in front of the purples trying to choose. They took my breath away! There's a purple car that I see in the village sometimes--makes me smile every time!
My favorite colors are purple, teal, yellow, and orange. The last two I like in calmer colors not really bold and bright.
ps. Thank you for sharing your words of wisdom and encouragement. Much appreciated.
Vicki--When autumn comes around, I like the deeper oranges and yellows, too :-) Purple and teal anytime! :-)
Linda--I am rooting for you! I know how hard this kind of experience is and I know how strong you are. You have my email--if you ever want to vent or whatever, feel free to use it! I'm here :-)
I am not fond of any bright colors. I like subtle colors-green probably tops the list but I like soft blue, too. And, I do like pink.
My furniture is very neutral so I can change up the look with a throw or pillows.
It is always interesting to see what others love.
I didn't realize that the places you rent are furnished. That makes it much easier to move!
Happy weekend to you and Bill- Hugs- Diana
Yup, much easier to move when there's no furniture or appliances to haul around! 😃
I'm less colour-blind even than you when it comes to yellows, oranges, reds etc. YUCK! I mean seriously - I have a few gifted items like a stuffed Minion and I keep him only because I think they are hilarious and I love the gift giver. If I had those couches etc I'd be buying the odd sheet and just COVERING it over, no offending yellow stripes peaking out. Letting the occasional blanket or throw just be enhanced in it's proper-coloured beauty. I'd put away the kettle but if I used it at all I'd make a cozy for it to HIDE the offending yellow lol. All my walls and decor is purple-blue or blue/green of some sort. I painted the horribly beige walls after a few years here and it made all the difference. The sheets, the curtains... all shades of those same colours and it makes everything look very nature-hued. Sea/sky effect even on a rainy day, I never have to look outside to feel sunny and whole inside. (It gives a kind of stasis, no seasonal effective disorder in that sense even tho I PREFER the darker months.) I have always been drawn royal/pastel colours even since a child. I'd cry if they put me in those horrible red dresses at the holidays I wanted green or blue. It's funny how we can know these things about ourselves from a young age. I don't know if it's been studied 'like that' I know it's studied for mood etc but like the 'why of it' would be interesting to find out. I feel justified disliking some colours strongly and even my mom liked everything in teal or teal-adjacent but I couldn't say specifically WHY it mattered so much. Other family members don't seem to have any of that strong issue at all. It'd be super interesting with this group of like-minded folks to find out what it's all about.
Thankfully the couches are grey with a thin yellow trim on the arms. We covered them anyway 😉
Good and I don't blame you!
In your line of work/career in studying human behavior, do you understand this colour thing?
Most of the cross cultural work on colour that I've seen hasn't be about how people respond to colour, but how they perceive colour. It's really interesting because people classify colour so differently across time and space. In some cultures (I don't remember exactly where they are), there are only two colour classifications. It's not that the colours aren't there, of course, but that they name them differently. It's all about where the line is drawn between them. So where I might differentiate between blue, purple, teal, and green for example, in another culture they might use their word for 'blue' for all of them.
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