Color is an important part of an artists life.
Looking at all the colors in a new box of crayons -
can you imagine if you had to choose just one? There
is a psychology of color - why you choose the same
colors over and over, what colors make you
feel happy, and what colors make you feel sad. Can
you imagine a pink Stop sign? Or a green fire engine?
These colors were chosen because of their psychological
attributes. So why not use the same study to choose the colors of
your next painting, room design, or website.
Warm Colors
Generally magenta, red, orange, yellow, and the yellow-green hues are active, exciting and are associated with happiness and comfort. Likewise, light colors are active, while deep colors are likely to be passive.
These colors speed up our perception of time and produce feelings that are warm, cozy, and inviting. They are associated with happiness and comfort.
They have the ability to bring text and images to the foreground.
Yellow evokes bright,
warm, and happy feelings. It expresses
exhilaration, originality, expectancy and
the desire to be active. Cheerful sunny yellow is an
attention getter. While it is considered an
optimistic color, people lose their tempers
more often in yellow rooms, and babies will cry more.
It is the most difficult color for the eye to take
in, so it can be overpowering if overused. Yellow
enhances concentration and also speeds metabolism
which may make it a good
color for dieters.
Sunshine
Daffodils
Cowardice
Red is a strong,
passionate, animated, optimistic, uninhibited, energetic,
and probably the most potent and emotional color.
Fire engine red can be overpowering as it stimulates
appetite, heatrate, blood pressure and breathing. It
is also the color of love and desire. Red clothing
gets noticed but adds pounds. Since it is an extreme
color, red clothing might not help people in
negotiations or confrontations. Red cars are often
targets for police as well as thieves.
Pink tempers the
passion of red with the purity of white
and becomes a more tranquil romantic color.
Fire Engines
Power ties
Courage
Danger
Orange is a fun,
warm, independant, stable, vibrant, exciting, strong,
aggressive color. Orange is associated with appetite.
Autumn leaves
Brown is a masculine earthy color
implying substance, maturity, durability and stability.
Light brown implies genuineness while dark brown
is similar to wood or leather. Brown can also be
sad and wistful.
Earth
Tree trunk
Cool Colors
Generally violet, blue, light blue, cyan and
sea green are calming and passive. They are known
to slow down our perception of time. These colors
recede into the distance and are suitable for
backgrounds. The color blue, especially retreats.
These colors can also be associated with sadness,
depression, and melancholy.
After reading the descriptions you will notice
especially with blue that they are often the
opposite of the warm colors and can be used
to balance the warm attributes.
Violet connotes luxury,
dignity, wealth, and sophistication.
It is also feminine and romantic. However,
because it is rare in nature, purple can
appear artificial. This is a mystical,
magical color, that represents
intuitive and sensitive understanding of the
unreal. Purple was the color of royalty.
Blue is a cool
color conveying feelings of loyalty, harmony,
tranquillity, calmness, recharging, contentment,
tenderness, unification, sensitivity, love and
affection. Blue is one of the most
popular colors.
Blue causes the body to produce
calming chemicals, so it is often used in bedrooms.
Too much blue can be cold and depressing. Fashion
consultants recommend wearing blue to job
interviews because of the loyalty symbolism.
People are more productive in blue rooms.
Studies show weightlifters are able to handle
heavier weights in blue gyms.
Sky
Faithfulness (true blue)
Ocean
Royalty
Blue-Green combines
and balances the tranquil, calm blue with the
fertility and growth of green.
It adds a sense of sophistication.
Green - the
most plentiful color in nature - is the color of
fertility, abundance, balance, and growth.
It is the easiest color on the eye and can improve
vision. It is a calming, refreshing color. People
waiting to appear on TV sit in "green rooms" to relax.
Hospitals often use green because it relaxes patients.
Dark green is masculine, conservative, and
implies wealth.
Leaves
Money
White is a
clean, mild, serene, color which brings about
feelings of purity and innocence.
White reflects light and is considered a summer color.
White is popular in decorating and in fashion because
it is light, neutral, and goes with everything but
keep in mind that it may be more difficult to keep
clean.
Bride
Snow
Black
is a symbolic color of sophistication, elegance,
seduction, mystery, mourning, and death.
Black is also the color of authority and power.
It is popular in fashion because it makes people
appear thinner. It is also stylish and timeless.
Black also implies submission. Clergy wear black to
signify submission to God. All Black outfits can
also be overpowering, or make the wearer seem
evil.
Be aware that different cultures have different
feelings about colors. In America purple is
associated with dignity and power while the Navajo
Indians associate it with happiness, Japanese people
connect it with sin and fear and Polish people
associate it with anger, and jealousy.
Chromotherapy
Did you know that in chromotherapy (the belief in
healing with colors), red is believed to
stimulate physical and mental energies,
yellow to stimulate nerves, orange to stimulate
the solar plexus and revitalize the lungs, blue to
soothe and heal organic disorders such as colds,
hay fever, and liver problems, and indigo to
counteract skin problems and fevers? While this
belief is not commonly accepted premature babies
with jaundice (a liver problem) are currently
treated with exposure to blue light for several days.
Links
Color Theory Art Lesson
Colored Pencils
Buy 'Colored Pencils' At AllPosters.com
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