Let’s talk a bit about color theory. When we speak of color theory it is important to remember that we are talking about a theory. Color theories have been evolving since antiquity and will continue on until the end of time. In fact if we go back to the time of Aristotle we see that he believed in a color scale that ranged from black to white with all of the other colors falling somewhere in between. Plato believed that mere mortals couldn’t understand the mysteries of colors at all, this was God’s territory alone.

It is not until we reach the period of the Renaissance that the modern day color wheel, like the one above, began to emerge. Sir Isaac Newton in his Treatise on Opticks was the first to begin speaking about color in this circular fashion. So all theories have a life span of sorts and are only held sacred until something else comes along to disprove them. I make this point only to try to get us to think outside of the accepted norm.

Did you know that Van Gogh studied piano in order to improve his painting technique? Kandinsky, an early twentieth century abstract painter was a syn-aesthete, a person who experiences a stimulus in more than one sense. He believed that he could hear color! Van Gogh’s teacher through him out of the class because he thought he was crazy, and you might think I am a little bit too, but follow me if you will on a little musical journey.

Have you ever seen a quiet color? Have you ever heard a color sing? Even though these statements don’t make logical sense you probably have some idea what I am talking about. So how are music and color connected? Quite simply a quiet color or one that sings is a color that is balanced and harmonious much like a finely crafted piece of music. Stay tuned.

I recently came across information about the 3/50 project and was immediately supportive. Cinda Baxter started a campaign last year to literally save the bricks and mortar of American small business. G&R Paint Company is literally made from bricks and mortar! I encourage everyone to check out the website http://www.the350project.net, and to support your local businesses. These are the businesses that make our individual communities unique. Without these businesses America would just be one long strip mall. Please take the time to find out more about this wonderful project. Times are tough right now for all businesses, so every purchase counts.

A philosopher I once read asked the question, “Do we actually see anything at all?” What he meant by this question was are we capable of seeing anything objectively, or is all of our seeing influenced or colored in some way by our history, culture, or other subconscious biases? So I ask the question, “Do we see color objectively, or is all of our color seeing influenced by our history, culture or other subconscious biases? I’ll ask another question. Did you wake up this morning and decide today what colors you like and which ones you don’t? Did you do this yesterday and are you planning on doing it again tomorrow.  Most likely the answer is no. So where does our color preference come from?

We have what I like to call a collective cultural color consciousness. I know it’s a mouthful. The psychologist Carl Jung wrote extensively on the subject of our collective unconscious. Is it not reasonable to conjecture that much of our color preferences have been filtered down to our subconscious minds through historically preserved works of art and ultimately by the very nature that surrounds us?

So if we look at the art that has most heavily influenced this color consciousness in Western Civilization we will come to the period commonly referred to as The Renaissance. Artists such as Michelangelo, DaVinci, Bellini, and others helped to inform our color consciousness by their master works created using the natural pigments available to them at the time. Their works have been enshrined in cathedrals and museums throughout the western world. Western religion played an important role by embedding the palette of these masters into our consciousness as early as childhood, since they were often the patrons of these artists.

You see what we have here is a color trend that has lasted more than 500 years! Now that is one worth paying attention to.

I’ve decide to start the new year off by publishing my color presentation, “Why We Gravitate Towards Certain Colors”, on this blog. I will publish weekly installments until it is completely represented here. Keep in mind that the content of all of these posts are copyrighted and not authorized for any sort of reproduction without expressed consent by myself.

With that said let’s get started. Why do we gravitate towards certain colors? You know they say if you live long enough you might just learn something along the way. After more than 30 years in the business of color in one fashion or another, I’ve observed that despite one color trend after another, we invariably rely on a core palette of classic colors when doing high end design work. What is it about the quality  of certain colors that makes them so timeless and appealing? Great design never goes out of style, it only gets better with time.

I think it is important to look at a dictionary definition of color; the sensation resulting from stimulation of the retina of the eye by light waves of certain lengths. The words sensation and stimulation strike me as important keywords on our color journey.

The word color can be used in many different ways. It can be a noun, (red, blue, yellow), a verb, (to change something’s appearance), or as an adjective, (color picture, color monitor). It is also used to describe our emotional state or moods and feelings (remember having a blue day?) It is worth noting that more often than not when I hear people talking about colors they say the color feels right or doesn’t feel right. Yes we are actually feeling something when we are in the presence of color. The rods and cones in our eyes are literally vibrating causing us to see color but also allowing us to feel it as well. Many experiments have been done on the behavior of children and others when surrounded by certain colors. The results of these show us how vulnerable and sensitive we are as creatures to the color of our surroundings. I have witnessed the emotional results of this challenge with many of my clients through the years.

Ultimately color is a “perceptual function of light.” In the absence of light there is no color to behold.