COLOUR ME HAPPY

Hello Creative QB’s,

3 minute read

Colour is an extremely powerful tool. Ninety per cent of snap judgements are based on response to colour. We encourage our children to paint rainbows and read picture books splashed with considered palettes. So why as we get older do we forget about the joy of colour?

COLOUR, COLOUR, COLOUR! It is everywhere.

Colour is a wavelength of magically reflection from surfaces that imprint onto our sparkly retinas. But it doesn’t have to be that confusing or overwhelming. Sure there is colour theory and association, and the real biggy, “colour psychology”. Understanding colour with all it’s variations can get mindfully messy. Let’s not confuse ourselves over colour, let’s embrace it instead and use it as a happy expression of our creative lives.

Colours can be primary, secondary, tertiary, tonal, tinted and shaded. Colour creates mood, space, depth, wonder and is pivotal in the choices we make and the perception of our world.

But in recent times there has been a shift towards ‘colour fear’. The fear of being courageous in the face of colour! Why are we so afraid to use it?

Is it because we focus too much on trends, expert and not so expert opinions and advice? Do we fear looking like Willy Wonka if we stand proudly in a purple velvet coat in a house made of rainbows and lollipops?

Instead we sit on the fence. When it comes to colour we take safe options. Allowing our colourful self to purchase a bright print and a colourful cushion or to wear something other than shades of grey is personally inspiring. How many of us have glanced at an image in a magazine and thought, “love it, but I could never pull it off”.

From a young age we bombard our children with crazy colourful environments to engage bright young minds. Some that are extremely well articulated and some that are just bloody awful. The generic playroom at your local shopping centre is your typical example. It has a knack of invoking an emotional technicolour vomit to add to the mish mash colourful mess on the walls and the floors.

We encourage our children to paint rainbows and read picture books splashed with considered palettes. So why as we get older do we forget?

We forget the joy of colour.

Our courage disappears and colour is sent spiralling to the bottom of our ‘needs list’ or discarded as an expression of our creative spirit.

To be honest, as children, we were never really taught about colour. How many of us were taught how to interpret the colour wheel and how to use it in everyday creative life? How many of us were aware of the power of colour association and how it affects our well-being?

If you were lucky, you might have seen a poster in the high school art room or got a short 30-minute lesson in art class, but that cannot imprint the importance and impact colour has on our subconscious minds.

Colour is an extremely powerful tool. Ninety per cent of snap judgements are based on response to colour. We see professional creative’s use it everyday to persuade us to purchase this item or that item. And then we don’t think about it again.

The covert subconscious profoundly affects the choices we make consciously.

Experiment with colour therapy

Colour association is invoked by memories, cultural and social influences and sometimes just because you are you. Ask yourself why do I choose that colour, why does that colour turn me into a blithering emotional mess? For me, that yuk colour is deep purple. Not only for the fact it generally evokes gloom, but also from years of sitting on a hard church pew surrounded by purple, being reminded I had to give up my favourite things for the religious period of lent. Not so very cool for a curious five year old. Surprisingly something this simple has subconsciously tapped me on the shoulder and impacted decisions I was completely unaware of.

Let’s be courageous in the face of colour. Be that child again who loves being bombarded by an explosion of rainbows. Explore possibilities. Appreciate the calming blue of the ocean, the vibrancy and passion of that red dress and rediscover the fun of a yellow amusement ride.

Take a look at the magic of the colour wheel. Flick through magazines and find ‘related and contrasting’ colour schemes that draw your interest and spark your curiosity.

Perhaps you will find it a revelation. You may discover you know more than you think about colour, that you find confidence to express colour as a happy, healthy, creative you!

Belle xo