Did you know that Van Gogh studied piano so that he could improve his painting technique? Kandinsky, an early twentieth century abstract painter was a synaesthete, a person who can experience a stimuli in more than one sense. He believed that he could hear color. I don’t claim to be a great painter like Van Gogh, or a synaesthete like Kandinsky, but I do use the correlation between music and color to help my clients and customers “visualize” complex, full spectrum colors.

If you imagine mixing a paint color with only one pigment such as a bright yellow is like playing the same note on a musical instrument over and over again, you quickly get the idea of how monotonous it will become. So by mixing at least the three primary colors (and preferrably more) we start to create colors that are musical like the three basic notes of a chord.

The presence of overtones in musical notes also relates to what I call the “harmonics of a color”. Each pigment that we use to mix a color has a certain “gamut” of colors that it can possibly create. When pigments are mixed together they create a larger gamut than the individual pigments by themselves. So as in music, the created color is greater than the sum of it’s individual parts. This is why complex full spectrum colors are so superior to the ordinary colors offered by most paint manufacturers.

Philip’s Perfect Colors are all mixed with a complex symphony of full spectrum pigments with no black, that results in colors that are both luminous and ‘musical” in their affect. If the colors on your walls are just sitting there it’s time to make a little music.

Van Gogh’s teacher eventually kicked him out of the class and thought he was crazy, and you might think that I am too for trying to make this connection, but after thirty years in the paint/color business you do go a little nuts!

Bright Earth, Art and the Invention of Color by Philip Ball is one of the most interesting books on color I have ever read. It isn’t just the fact that he has a terrific first name that causes me to say so. His take on color from the point of view of a chemist studying art history is fascinating. It is also extremely relevant to me since the medium I use to represent my colors is essentially a can full of chemistry (paint). He takes us on a journey from antiquity to the present day weaving a very interesting tale of discovery and accidents that led to what has become the human legacy of color in art and media of all sorts. The chapter on the Renaissance, Masters of Light and Shadow, aligns itself seemlessly with my own approach to color. If you’re up for a very interesting read, I highly recommend Bright Earth. You’ll never see color the same way again.

With wisteria, lavender, and lilac smells all surrounding me this Easter morning, it was inevitable that I chime in about the use of purple (or lack there of) in our interior color schemes.  Purple has for centuries been associated with royalty since the original purple dye derived from the shells of a mollusk, was so expensive that only the very rich could afford it. There were even ancient laws forbidding the wearing of cloth dyed with purple because it was seen as an afront to the heirarchy. So why is it that purple is used so infrequently in our modern day interiors.

Many of us including myself have bad connotations with purple. Whether it be the Haight-Ashbury of the 1960’s or the horrible wallpaper that I still remember my mother using in her bedroom, purple is not always seen as the most elegant of colors. So how did we get from royalty to ruin as it were?

As with so many of the colors that we have been offered by the paint industry, a purple made with only a few pigments is going to reveal itself to be too bright and offensive once we see it on the wall. The truth is that purple colors that are highly complex can be both elegant and long lasting in their appeal, and can be used almost like a neutral. The trick is to choose ones that maybe don’t look all that purple on the paint chip, but have the tone lurkying just beneath the surface. When applied to full walls the purple will reveal itself, but have enough other pigments to make it play nicely with other furnishings, and in varied light sources.

Some examples from my pallette would be PPC-V1 Dusk, the faintest of all, PPC-V9 Olivia’s Gray, a great mid-tone, and PPC-V6 Stormy Weather, for the deepest of drama’s. These essentially purple colors will give a spark of royalty to your interior, and allow you to remember why we so eagerly await the purples of spring.

It seems like yesterday that a wonderful woman named Ann Hall introduced herself to me in my shop. In reality it was the year 2000 when this paint covered marvel began making an impression on me and later many of my customers.

For many years Ann did custom color work in people’s homes. A true artist, she would blend the colors on sight to her client’s specifications. Sometime after our association began I suggested to her that she might create a collection that we could sell at G&R Paint Company. A bit taken back that I would share my real estate and ego space with her, she nonetheless agreed. After nearly three years in the making, the Ann Hall Color Design Collection was born.

These colors, like Philip’s Perfect Colors, are full spectrum in their pigmentation and never use black pigments to tone them. Formulated in Pratt & Lambert’s Accolade acrylic paints, these colors have a slightly sweeter nature than do mine. I guess it’s the Mars versus Venus thing, but Ann and I always found our colors to complement rather than compete with each other.

There is unfortunately a sad note to this story. In January 2005 shortly after completing an update to her whites collection, Ann died of a heart attack in her sleep. Her family has entrusted me to continue on Ann’s legacy which I have happily done since her sudden departure. I will never be able to replace the comraderie and enthusiasm that Ann and I shared for color, but everyday I am reminded of her genius when I see her colors displayed in my store. Every gallon of Ann Hall Color that leaves G&R Paint makes the world a more elegant and sophisticated place. I’m sure Ann would be agree.