Update on Katsuma's Art Work

"And after all the effort I put into my costume, I didn't get any candy."BBL

Ha ha. I hope you have a safe and happy Halloween and get treats instead of tricks.

photo from Artful Affirmations


I'm tempted to use this photo as the basis for a painting. It invites one to make up a story about who or what can squeeze into the chair in that vacant place, doesn't it? If you have a yen to write me about your "story" for this snapshot, let me read what your creativity inspired you to pen. BBL

Moods Affected by Night Lights

Jessica Berman

Some colors humans are exposed to late at night could cause symptoms of clinical depression.  That is the conclusion of a study that builds on previous findings that individuals exposed to dim levels of light overnight, such as from a glowing television set, can develop signs of clinical depression.

Investigators, curious as to whether the color of light contributed to depressive symptoms in humans, designed an experiment that exposed hamsters to different colors. They chose hamsters because they are nocturnal, meaning they sleep during the day and are active at night. 

One group of hamsters was kept in the dark during their nighttime period.  Another group of rodents was exposed to blue light and a third group slept in the presence of white light.  A fourth group of hamsters was exposed to glowing red light.

After four weeks, researchers noted how much sugary water the hamsters drank.  The more depressed rodents consumed the least amount of water.

Randy Nelson, chair of Ohio State University’s Department of Neuroscience and co-author of the study, said animals that slept in blue and white light appeared to be the most depressed.

“What we saw is these animals didn’t show any sleep disruptions at all but they did have mucked up circadian clock genes and they did show depressive phenotypes whereas if they were in the dim red light, they did not,” Nelson said.

Nelson explained that photosensitive cells in the retina, which don’t have much to do with vision, detect light and transmit signals to the master circadian clock in the brain that controls the natural sleep-wake cycle.

Nelson said there’s a lot of blue in white light, which explains why blue light and white light hamsters seemed more depressed than rodents exposed to red light or darkness.

Nelson had suggestions for so-called "night owls" or people who work the night shift.

“My recommendation is if you are just living a typical mostly active [life] during the day, mostly inactive at night, you want to limit exposure to TVs which are quite bluish in the light they give off and computer screens and things like that," stated Nelson. "You can get filtered glass, you can get filters on your computer screen and filters on your eReaders to put it more in the reddish light.”

An article on the effects of light color on mood is published in The Journal of Neuroscience. 

Night Lights and Depression

HOME > MENTAL HEALTH

The Color of Your Night Light Affects Mood

Researchers found that hamsters that were exposed to blue light had the worst depressive symptoms.

 (Photo : Flickr/ @yakobusan Jakob Montrasio )

For young children still learning how to be independent, a night-light can come in handy. Not only

 are night-lights useful for children, they are also useful for lighting hallways for midnight trips to

 the bathroom or kitchen. Since night-lights are created with multiple designs and different colors,

 people have a lot to choose from. According to a new study, researchers found that the color 

of the night-light can play a huge factor in affecting people's moods.

"Our findings suggest that if we could use red light when appropriate for night-shift workers,

 it may not have some of the negative effects on their health that white light does," Nelson said.

 Furthermore, for young children, a red night-light might be the best option.The only group

 of hamsters that exhibited normal moods and behaviors were not exposed to light at all and 

moved around in the darkness. The researchers believe that these findings could potentially be

 applied to humans. For people who work late nights and night shifts, the color of the lights 

could affect their mood. For example, people who work the security desk at night and are 

exposed to blue light could be at a higher risk of developing depression.

The study was published in the journal, Neuroscience. 

More on this subject in the following post. 

The Need for Color

Loving the Light
Color Therapy

by Madisyn Taylor

Often the colors we like best are the colors we most need in our lives and provide us with subtle vibrational help.

The wondrous displays of color that define the world around us are manifestations of light and, as such, each possesses a unique frequency. The attraction we feel to certain colors is not a matter of pure chance—we experience the beneficial affects of color even while blindfolded. We are naturally drawn to those colors that lift our mood, expand consciousness, and restore health. Color therapy, also known as chromo-therapy, allows us to harness the power of individual color frequencies to heal the body, positively influence our emotions, and achieve a renewed sense of inner harmony through sympathetic resonance. Colors do not directly affect the composition of our physical, mental, or aura, but they non-invasively alter the vibrational characteristics of diverse elements of the self so that each resonates at its proper healthy frequency. 

It is easy to overlook the colors that saturate our personal and professional environments. Yet these, whether in the form of the paint on our walls or the clothing we wear, can influence our thoughts, behaviors, and feelings to an extraordinary degree. The colors we like best are often those that we need most in our lives, and there are many ways we can utilize them. Basking under a colored light bulb or gazing at an area of color can stimulate or calm us depending on the color we choose. For example, red stimulates the brain, circulatory systems, and first chakra, giving us an energy boost, while blue acts on the throat chakra, soothing the body and mind. And when we do not feel drawn to any one color, we can still benefit from the healing effects of white light, which is an amalgamation of all the colors of the visible spectrum. It is a cleansing color, one that can purify us on many levels.

Human beings evolved to delight in vivid sunsets and rainbows, to enjoy the sensations awakened by particularly eye-catching color, and to decorate our spaces and ourselves with bright colors. In essence, we evolved to love the light because of its harmonizing influence on every aspect of the self. When we pay attention to the potential affects of individual colors, we can modify our spaces, wardrobes, and habits to ensure that we introduce the colors that speak to us most deeply in our everyday lives.

Look for the colors you NEED today and let me know what you see by clicking  the comments section below.BBL

Maurice Utrillo, Son of Painters

Maurice Utrillo (French: [mɔʁis ytʁijo]), born Maurice Valadon (26 December 1883 – 5 November 1955), was a French painter who specialized in cityscapes. Born in the Montmartre quarter of Paris, France, Utrillo is one of the few famous painters of Montmartre who were born there.

Biography

Utrillo was the son of the artist Suzanne Valadon (born Marie-Clémentine Valadon), who was then an eighteen-year-old artist's model. She never revealed who was the father of her child; speculation exists that he was the offspring from a liaison with an equally young amateur painter named Boissy, or with the well established painter, Pierre-Cécile Puvis de Chavannes, or even with Renoir (see below under Utrillo's Paternity). In 1891 a Spanish artist, Miguel Utrillo y Molins, signed a legal document acknowledging paternity, although the question remains as to whether he was in fact the child's father.

Valadon, who became a model after a fall from a trapeze ended her chosen career as a circus acrobat,^[2] found that posing for Berthe Morisot, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and others provided her with an opportunity to study their techniques; in some cases, she also became their mistress. She taught herself to paint, and when Toulouse-Lautrec introduced her to Edgar Degas, he became her mentor. Eventually she became a peer of the artists she had posed for.

Meanwhile, Suzanne's mother the laundress was left to raise the young Maurice, who soon showed a troubling inclination toward truancy and alcoholism.When a mental illness took hold of the 21-year-old Utrillo in 1904, he was encouraged to paint by his mother. He soon showed real artistic talent. With no training beyond what his mother taught him, he drew and painted what he saw in Montmartre. After 1910 his work attracted critical attention, and by 1920 he was internationally acclaimed. In 1928, the French government awarded him the Cross of the Légion d'honneur. Throughout his life, however, he was interned in mental asylums repeatedly.

Tomb of Utrillo, Cemetery Saint Vincent, Paris

Today, tourists to the area will find many of his paintings on post cards, one of which is his very popular 1936 painting entitled,Montmartre Street Corner or Lapin Agile.

In middle age Utrillo became fervently religious and in 1935, at the age of fifty-two, he married Lucie Valore and moved  just outside of Paris. By that time, he was too ill to work in the open air and painted landscapes viewed from windows, from post cards, and from memory.

Although his life also was plagued by alcoholism, he lived into his seventies. Maurice Utrillo died on 5 November 1955, and was buried in the Cimetière Saint-Vincent in Montmartre.

A provocative biographical novel Suzanne of Love and Art by Elaine Todd Koren details the complicated relationship between Valadon and her son, Maurice Utrillo.

Concerning Utrillo's Paternity

An apocryphal anecdote told by Diego Rivera concerning Utrillo's paternity is related in the unpublished memoirs of one of his American collectors, Ruth Bakwin:

"After Maurice was born to Suzanne Valadon, she went to Renoir, for whom she had modeled nine months previously. Renoir looked at the baby and said, 'He can't be mine, the color is terrible!' Next she went to Degas, for whom she had also modeled. He said, 'He can't be mine, the form is terrible!' At a cafe,Suzanne saw an artist she knew named Miguel Utrillo, to whom she spilled her woes. The man told her to call the baby Utrillo: 'I would be glad to put my name to the work of either Renoir or Degas!'"

Colors Matter

Originally published in STIR®, a resource for color and creativity.

BY BETH RUTLEDGE

Trish Buscemi uses color to help children with cognitive learning challenges and their families create calming, kid-friendly interiors.

During the years that Trish Buscemi’s corporate career was flourishing, her creativity languished like an understudy waiting for the play’s star to call in sick.

“I’ve used color my whole life,” says Buscemi, the owner of Colors Matter, a painting and color consultation company specializing in custom interiors for those with cognitive learning challenges such as ADD, ADHD, Asperger’s, Autism and Down Syndrome. “Now with Colors Matter, we’re using color to help — it’s almost always a creative process.”

Buscemi, mother to an adult child with ADD and Tourette’s, lives in Conroe, Texas, north of Houston. When her sister moved there, too, the pair launched the residential and commercial painting business Two Sisters Painting, which became the springboard for Colors Matter.

Raising a child with special needs has given Buscemi personal insight that enriches her status as a certified color consultant. Beyond understanding light’s impact on a space and the way pigments alter hue, she has first-hand knowledge of how room colors can affect behavior.

“Colors matter. They affect us in every way, every day. They sway moods, provoke thought, stimulate conversation and appetite. They calm us, cheer us, rev us up and even depress us. Color is emotional, cultural, sensory and cognitive,” says Buscemi.

Color beyond aesthetics

“Parents of children with special needs really struggle with color choices,” says Buscemi. During conversations with these clients, she’s often asked to deliver “feelings” along with color recommendations and a finished product. Which colors inspire peace and calm? Which are invigorating and energizing and help stimulate learning? Buscemi believes color affects neuropathways in the brain, creating a biochemical response. Triggering the desired response in the particular individual is key. For example, Buscemi has found that blues, greens and muted brown tones tend to be great choices for both adults and children with ADD and ADHD.

In the four years she’s been helping transform spaces for people with cognitive learning challenges, she’s come to realize that special-needs clients are her passion. “The whole family feels it when rooms aren’t working,” says Buscemi. “So when rooms are working, it’s so rewarding and transformational.”

Long before colors are selected, Trish asks dozens of questions, ranging from how often spaces are used to when lights are turned on to whether a child is artistic, athletic, a gamer or maybe a musician. In a consultation with a boy with Asperger’s, Trish learned that red was a favorite color and one he wanted in his bedroom. But Trish knew that using it on the walls could cause undue agitation. Instead, she suggested a “soothing blue with a yellow stripe. Red was used just in accents.” Trish ensured lighting was well-placed and gentle, and the result was a space where the boy felt comfortable playing, reading and sleeping.

In creating calming, kid-friendly interiors, Buscemi makes a point of talking with parents about the importance of active rooms where it’s okay to be loud or messy. “Rooms where real living can take place are essential,” says Buscemi.

The color of change

The team at Colors Matter has lent their expertise to projects for Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Montgomery County Habitat for Humanity All-Women Build, and Trish is proud to do pro bono work every year for families with kids with cognitive struggles. As research and information about cognitive disorders grows, so does the support community. Colors Matter is tickled pink to be part of it.

After she’s changed the lives of so many through color, you might expect Trish to have a favorite color of her own. She doesn’t, although she has an affinity for Sherwin-Williams Rainwashed (SW 6211), a gray-green hue that’s “versatile and great in a bathroom or on an accent wall.”