Color and Emotions

Color is a powerful influence in our everyday lives whether we are aware of its power or not. When we enter a room or see an object for the first time, our minds register its color before any other detail. The 7,000,000 colors our eyes can see are like words that form a patois of mood, energy and insight. Color can exert a gentle effect on the mind and body, influencing our dispositions and our physical health. It has the ability to trigger our emotions, affect the way we think and act, and influence our attitudes. Advertisers and color psychologists know the power of colors well, we would all do well to become as savvy. We unconsciously respond to the color of the walls in our homes, cars, clothing, and the food we eat based on our bodies' natural reactions to certain colors and the psychological associations we have formed around them. The consequences of the decisions to paint a room or wear a specific article of clothing goes beyond aesthetics! Egyptian and Green physicians, including the father of Western medicine, Hippocrates, used different colored ointments and salves as remedies. They also practiced their medicinal craft in treatment rooms painted in healing shades. The Arab physician Avincenna systematized the teachings of Hippocrates in the 9th century. He wrote about color both as a symptom of disease and as treatment. He suggested, for example, that red acts as a stimulant on blood flow while yellow reduces pain and inflammation as well as depression. We are drawn to the color we need, such as a lively red when exhausted. Blues, greens and violets soothe us when we need rest and healing. Notice the colors of fast food restaurants when you next visit them. Red, orange, and yellow are somewhere in the color scheme. These warm colors speed up our production of digestive juices, urging us to eat fast. In a tony restaurant when quick turnover of diners is not desired, the colors will be soothing and relaxing. Candlelight adds to the ambiance of the location. NOVEMBER BIRTHDAYS OF NOTE Georgia O’Keeffe November 15, 1887 1 William Merritt Chase, 1849 2 James Lesesne Wells, 1902 2 Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin, 1699 3 Benvenuto Cellini, 1500 3 Walker Evans, 1903 3 Loïs Mailou Jones, 1905 6 Alois Senefelder, 1771 7 Francisco de Zurbarán, 1598 8 Charles Demuth, 1883 10 William Hogarth, 1697 11 Paul Signac, 1863 11 Édouard Vuillard, 1868 11 Claude Clark, 1915 12 Auguste Rodin, 1840 13 Wilmer Angier Jennings, 1910 14 Claude Monet, 1840 15 Georgia O’Keeffe, 1887 15 Wayne Thiebaud, 1920 15 Miriam Schapiro, 1923 17 Isamu Noguchi, 1904 18 Louis Jacques Daguerre, 1787 19 Nicholas Poussin, 1594 21 René Magritte, 1898 23 José Clemente Orozco, 1883 24 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, 1864 26 George Segal, 1924 28 William Blake, 1757 28 Morris Louis, 1912 30 Gordon Parks, 1912 30 Sam Gilliam, 1938  Remember to click on the name to find out more about these artists. If your birthday coincides with one of these artists, you may find you have more than a birthdate in common with him or her. Other dates  to enjoy: Roy Rogers' birthday Nov. 5th,  Daylight Saving Time Ends Nov. 6th, The Frost Moon is full on Nov. 10, Veterans' Day is Nov. 11, Abigail Adams's birthday was Nov. 22, wnjoy Thanksgiving on the 24th, and last, but by no means least, Mark Twain's birthday is the 30th.

Many experts say Vincent van Gogh had eye problems. He liked to paint the night sky and reflections. The picture above is entitled "Reflections on the Rhone River.

Human Eyes

Marilyn vos Savant recently had an interesting column in Parade magazine. She addressed the fact that human eyes have two kinds of photosensitive cells, cones and rods.

"Cones are used for seeing when it's relatively dark. No animals, not even owls, can see in total darkness. The center of your eye contains only cones; the perimeter is dense with rods.

When we look directly at a star, for instance, it disappears because the cones cannot "see" it. But when you look nearby, the star reappears because the rods can see it.

This is the reason observers so often feel that they're never looking in quite the right place during a meteor shower. They are correct! Mostly we see the shooting stars only in our peripheral vision.

Chickens have nearly all cones, so they can barely see at night. Rats are the opposite. Their eyes have nearly all rods, which is why they dislike daylight so much."

The American Heritage Dictionary has these definitions:

Cone=A photoreceptor in the retina of the eye.
Rod=Rod-shaped cells in the retina of the eye that respond to dim light.

You may be wondering what this has to do with color, the subject of this blog. It is this: these same rods and cones which help us see stars and comets also help us see color and shades of colors.

I am grateful we have eyes able to distinguish nuances of color in our surroundings. It is difficult to imagine seeing only in light and dark.

Fall Colors

I've always been intrigued by the color changes in leaves each autumn. Evidently there are many "leaf-peepers" who plan vacations to fill their eyes with the glorious hues of transforming leaves every year. Phrenology is the study of timing in nature. Fall's changing colors are linked to cooling temperatures, decreasing sunlight and soil moisture. Once the green layer fades away, a wall goes up between the leaf and the parent tree. The flow of nutrients back and forth ends.

The brilliant colors associated with fall happen when production of chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants crucial to photosynthesis, slows down as the days get shorter and the nights grow longer. That triggers the leaves to reveal their yellow, orange and red pigments that are normally hidden from view. In some years, the colors are more vibrant than in other years.

Phrenologists caution that heavy rain, drought-like conditions or temperature extremes can cause dramatic fluctuations year-to-year. Researchers at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Seoul, South Korea use satellites to show the end of the growing season this year was delayed by 6.5 days from 1982 to 2008 in the Northern Hemisphere.

All this money and time spent as well as effort don't impress me as much as a journalist's interview with an 82 year old woman named Nancy Aldrich at Polly's Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire. She has been keeping her own records since 1975. Her numbers show that color change is a moving target, and she's not willing to go out on a limb in terms of making any declarations."I know I'm vague about it, but so is nature," Nancy said.

Foliage aficionados insist there is nothing that has occurred this year to prevent the nation's leaf peepers from getting their full color fix this autumn. A bigger concern than the timing of the color change in leaves is whether tourists can afford to get out and enjoy the sights.

Fall is still an enigma, and I revel in it!

Alchemy by Barbara Boothe Loyd

Upon a blank canvas alchemy is afoot.

His hues park temporarily on my palette,

mirroring autumn’s vivid colors of

pumpkin, pimento, persimmon, and

cardinal red---revealing the final party

dresses worn by the soon departing leaves.

Always admired for their ability to leave

with flair, their inevitable fading into decay’s

cloudy shades of brown,

they layer themselves at the foot of their

parent tree to sleep through their conversion

Color Wheel Coordination

Amazon.com has listed at least 16 various Color Wheels to buy. They are all basically the same useful tool. The terms below will help all interested in finding their way around the clock-face of the wheel.

• ACHROMATIC=A colorless scheme using blacks, whites and grays.
•  
• ANALOGOUS=Combining 3 colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel, i.e. red-violet, red, and red-orange.
•  
• COMPLEMENTARY=Combining a shade, tint, or tone of one color and the color opposite on the wheel.
•  
• MONOCHROMATIC=Using any shade, tint, or tone of one color.

TRIAD=Combining 3 colors that are equally spaced from each other on the color wheel. 

*The PRIMARY COLORS are red, blue and yellow. Note that red-orange, blue-green, yellow-orange, for example, always have the primary's name first, then a hyphen followed by the secondary color.

Color Wheel

A color wheel (also referred to as a color circle) is a visual representation of colors arranged according to their chromatic relationship.


In October, leaves transform from green to red or yellow, all brought about by lessening light rays. These are the days when light becomes the color of old gold, enjoy the treasure of this season.

Many major artists have October birthdays. If one corresponds to your birthday, research "your" artist. Click on the artists names on the calendar to read more about them. Pierre Bonnard is known as a "painters' painter" because of his free use of color; he remains one of my favorites. Let me know who is your favorite.

October
Benjamin West October 10, 1738
3	Pierre Bonnard, 1867
4	Jean-François Millet, 1814
4	Frederic Remington, 1861
5	Maya Lin, 1959
8	Faith Ringgold, 1930
8	Beverly Buchanan, 1940
9	Frank Duveneck, 1848
10	Benjamin West, 1738
10	Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1684
10	Alberto Giacometti, 1901
12	Richard Meier, 1934
14	Alesso Baldovinetti, 1427
16	Paul Strand, 1890
19	Umberto Boccioni, 1882
20	Jacqueline Winsor, 1941
21	Katsushika Hokusai, 1760
22	Robert Rauschenberg, 1925
25	Pablo Picasso, 1881
27	Lee Krasner, 1908
27	Roy Lichtenstein, 1923
28	Giovanni Antonio Canaletto, 1697
28	Francis Bacon, 1909
29	Niki de Saint Phalle, 1930
30	Angelica Kauffmann, 1741
31	Jan Vermeer, 1632