List every color you can think of and what mood you associate with each color:
- Blue, in almost every shade, evokes a feeling of calm.
- Red is energy, and passion, and intensity. Almost always. There is no “light red.” It was my mother’s favorite color; it is mine, too. In recent collages, I’ve been using large expanses of a velvet-rich, deep “catsup” shade of red, juxtaposed with thin lines of baby blue and bright lime green. Used in this way, red offers a quiet strength.
- Yellow is happy, in bright shades, but a sad, weak color in paler versions. Bitter, when it leans toward green.
- Purple, in it’s truest balance, shows power. If it leans toward red, it becomes loud and cloying; too much blue and it is weakened. Pastel versions lack strength.
- Orange can be rich, joyous and friendly. It needs to be strong in red, and have brown undertones to pull it off, though.
- Green can be beautiful. Deep forest green is welcoming. Many blue-green hues suggest the tranquility of water. There is often an association with money, or riches, and the variety of greens in a spring landscape are always a joy to see. Some shades, though, are almost repulsive to me. My least favorite colors are all shades of green, evoking thoughts of illness, spoilage, meanness and death.
- Brown offers solidity and quiet. There are no neon shades of brown. There are, sadly, some ugly shades of brown out there, though.
- Black is rich, deep and mysterious.
- White is elegant, though vacuous.
- Pink, along with most pastel colors, can evoke a wide spectrum of moods, depending on value, intensity and tone. From deep coral tones to hot pink to palest blush, pink can be joyful or sappy, fun, light-hearted or sad.
