Each color has own personality whether it was happy or sad, old or young.
Dusty colors are sad, because they make us think of old, feeble people living in
dreary, dusty rooms because they can't see well enough to keep things from
looking run down. But so many people willingly choose to live with these
dirt-camouflaging colors because it is safer for them to have no clear colors
than to expose their inner world. If you really like dusty, musty colors for
your rooms, you must understand how much your mood and energy will be influenced
by them. If you want to be less cautious, less afraid, now is your chance to
sparkle. If you found yourself in a dark room with orange and black napkins on
the tables after a carefree day at the beach, filled with the colors of the sea
and sky, it would seem unconscionable. House paints have a full range of muted
shades many people think are appropriate for room interiors. Who, in the clear
light of a sunny day, wants to be in an atmosphere that is clouded over? Just by
being inside, you are deprived of ninety percent of the light of brilliant
sunshine. You need clear fresh colors and lots of white to counteract the
partial darkness cast by your walls that diminishes the energy from light.
Americans are most comfortable in a spic-and-span house, yet they accept dirty
colors on their walls, floors, and furniture that dampen their spirit.
One of the serious decorating traps people fall into is ignoring the
opportunity for sunshine, choosing a dull beige-gray palette because they feel
it's safe or creates a presumably sophisticated look.
The burnt-earth pigments - ochre, umber, and burnt sienna - are the very colors
that daring Impressionists abandoned in their depiction of nature, escaping the
somber, pompous aesthetic of the Academy. Organic objects that are naturally
earth-toned are energizing, such as butcher-block counters, antique furniture,
marble top tables, and cork floors.
You must gather the hues and tints that give you the most pleasure, inspiration
and, ultimately, life. If you are a city dweller and work in an artificial
atmosphere, you'll want to bring ecological elements into your interiors so you
will benefit from nature's energy. Think of color as a mystical force that can
enhance and stimulate your non biological self or depress it. While certain
colors elevate your personal, vital energy, others darken your spirit. Think of
yourself as an alchemist capable of transmuting base colors to radiant, golden
light. In color you have a magic wand that you can use in hundreds of ways every
day to create more joyful moments where you feel you are living in pure light.
How can you have more color-love? You have to wrap your heart, mind, and soul
around pure, vibrant hues, and look to nature and artists who see life as a
beautiful place for inspiration. And you have to trust your intuition when
selecting colors for your personal color palette. Don't look at fashion trends
or be guided by what's displayed in showroom and stores. So-called experts may
try to convince you that bland, artificial, "neutral" tones are calming, whereas
in reality they are more likely to shut down, not soothe, the human spirit.
The human eye can distinguish approximately ten million colors. Why have dreary
colors that make you think you're drowning in the murky, muddy, polluted waters
of Alligator Alley? How do these light absorbing, flat colors make you feel? How
long can you sustain your energy and optimism in these artificially dark,
draining atmospheres? There's a reason cheerful, inspiring people live with
fresh colors. They recognize instinctively the powerful, emotional feelings
colors evoke.
There is naturally plenty of brown in the rooms of your house. You probably have
wood floors, paneled doors, and brown-stained furniture. It is easy to be
passionate about antique wood, caressing your antique pieces as you wax and
polish them. What interior spaces cry out for is clear, unmuted tints of color,
to contrast with and highlight the natural beauty of wood and counterbalance the
graying down of their freshness because of all the unavoidable shadows.
Go to the heart of a primary color, red, yellow or blue, and tint it up
to divine light with white. The beauty of a space stems from architectural
correctness combined with a cheerful eye for color. You feel the divine energy
within when you are in a yellow room because of the pure white mixed with chrome
yellow. You absorb all the vitality from the wavelengths of energy as though the
primary color were the sun or fire. Every five years you can repaint to recreate
the freshness of your confident vision. Far better to have a pale, fresh tint
than a heavy dull color. Age naturally tones colors down, but you should always
start out fresh.
Choose only colors that carry positive associations for you.
- Look through decorating and gardening magazines to explore what colors attract your eye.
- Study the palettes of Claude Monet, Pierre Bonnard, and Henri Matisse.
- Remember how colors speak for you and about you. Your personal color palette is your
integrity, your voice; it should never be compromised.
- Let your colors refresh you, uplift you, and caress your inner light. Become a colorist and an artist
who paints with life-sustaining colors that bring hope, increase faith, and make everyone feel happier.
There is a superiority in clear, saturated colors. In
art, textile design, and other objects, colors should make your heart leap for
joy. If there is no luminosity, no refreshing crispness or childlike clarity,
chances are the colors are for someone else.
