Artist’s Palette
Travels through a myriad of color choices
“Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.”
Oscar Wilde
I remember teaching my daughters a song about colors: “Red and Orange, Green and Blue, Shining Yellow, Purple too. All the colors that we know, live up in the rainbow.”
From within the confines of my visual memory springs a personal enrichment project that I embarked on in the early 1980s. I located a local artist who assembled her palette of colors customized to her individual clients after having some brief in person contact with them. Despite the fact that as a blind woman I currently only see dark and light, it comforts me to refer to my memory bank of colors as far back as I can remember.
From my nightstand, I remove a fan of 21 swatches of fabric, all fastened at the bottom by a metal eyelet. Accompanying this fan, there is a 4”x4” bound book which includes the following categories: Reds, Dramatic, Understated, Neutral, Neutral metals, and Eye extension.
Why would someone need an artist to assist them in choosing colors of clothing, furniture, or home decor? According to the Smithsonian Institute, there are millions of colors to choose from and I found the enormity of this task daunting and overwhelming. Therein comes the value of having my colors chosen for me and compiled into a portable format. Although I began utilizing this color tool in the early 1980s, it remains a reliable color reference and organizer for me.
I would like to begin with indulging my senses with what the artist termed my ‘Dramatic’ colors. These colors include a wide assortment of greens, blues, and combinations such as teal. I viewed these colors as serene and pleasing to the eye, although the artist remarked that dramatic colors convey those hues and shades that bring me into the limelight.
Indeed, that focal point was not one that I assumed readily, but as years moved on, those colors carried with themselves a confidence and positivity, even if it masked some of my insecurity. I find it amusing to note that my husband Ted and I often pair together with dramatic colors which friends and family readily note.
The color blue brings me tranquility and relaxation. I associate greens and blues with serenity, woods and forests, and grassy knolls. The artist aptly noting my Dramatic colors infuses me with gratitude and a sense of home-coming. I cannot cite many blue foods other than blueberries, which can lean more into the purple territory, but I can cite many green foods which abound in my family’s lives, since salads present themselves in at least one meal a day.
In our house, where we have resided for the past 16 years, our furniture includes a comfy green sofa, with two green leather hassocks, whose tops convert into serving trays, and in our bedroom, our platform bed is a topped with a Japanese dusky blue bamboo themed comforter.
Contrasting with the Dramatic colors are the Understated colors. These comprise of a larger scale of colors, with blue, green, soft purple, buttery yellows, cream, and ivory. Especially useful to me was learning that I could not wear white near my face, but rather creams and ivories. This distinction assisted me in choosing an ivory-colored lacy gown for my wedding day, which did not wash out my complexion.
To me, the Eye Extension category assumed immense importance. With the Germanic/Czech genes, our family of seven all carried azure blue eyes. When I looked into the mirror, I felt like I was looking into a body of water. I’ve embraced the hazel eyes of my husband, the puppy brown eyes of my daughters, and the deeper brown hues of many friends.
My artist-approved Red choices include soft reds, rather than fire engine red, and an array of orange gradients. I associate reds as a celebratory color and emblematic of life that flows through my veins. I fondly recall the faces of red roses that awaited me at my USF dorm room the first day of college, an unlikely gift from my mother.
My neutral colors span yellows, camel, and ivory. I shy away from neutral colors, as I feel they wash me out and are understated. Metals represent an even split between gold and silver, and I find it reassuring to still detect the shine of a metal door knob or handle as I enter or exit a building.
Without my reliable life partner and assistant Ted, selecting a pair of either gold or silver folksy earrings to match my attire would be impossible. Thank you Ted for your visioning and inimitable contributions to my life and bringing color to me.
Color, in all its myriad forms, does not evade me, but rather comes alive through my voiced choices and assistance from those around me. Although colors are lost to my retina, they maintain their richness and presence in my life via daily choices of food, clothing, and the natural surroundings I frequent.
I am so happy that the world is not reduced to dark and light. It is pleasurable to write about these colors and although I cannot see them concretely, they are etched in my visual cortex, and provide comforting reference and memory.
