By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills
National Color Day celebrates how every person interprets the way light reflects or bounces off an object. The experience is more than what we see and enjoy or avoid. The various hues and shades impact us creatively, physically, and psychologically.
Color is one of my favorite literary tools to show emotion and encourage readers to join the story’s adventure. The technique reveals a character’s personality by exploring a different aspect of likes and dislikes. Color paints our stories with subtle meanings deeper than a visual and is often considered a symbol.
The following information about color may tell you much about yourself.
Red represents a warm hue causing strong emotions, from friendly and comforting to anger and hostility. Researchers have reported people overeat in rooms painted and decorated in red.
Think about these phrases: redneck, red-hot, red light, a red flag, red-handed, paint the town red, and seeing red. Are you a fan of red?
Blue carries a range of emotions from coolness to serenity. Many offices are painted this color because people are more productive in blue rooms. Many vacationers prefer the blue ocean or a cloudless sky at the top of a mountain. Blue can also mean sadness.
Do you enjoy the blues music? Consider a blue Monday, a blue-ribbon day, out-of-the-blue, blue-chip stocks, and work until you are blue in the face.
Green often symbolizes nature and growth. The color has a calming effect. Researchers have proven those who work in offices painted green have fewer stomach aches. The color also points to wealth, greed, and jealousy. In the 15th century, green represented fertility, and wedding dresses were green.
How do these phrases affect you—greenhorn, green thumb, green with envy, green around the gills, and to give the green light?
Yellow belongs in the spectrum of red and green. It’s described as cherry and warm. The color can also represent frustration, and if we consider red/passion and green/growth, the additional meaning makes sense. Along with red stimulating the appetite, yellow entices people to eat more. Yellow is termed a swing color because its hues and depths affect people’s moods differently.
Consider these expressions—mellow yellow, a coward, yellow traffic light, and yellow leaves on a plant indicate possible disease. How do you react to yellow?
Purple blends red and blue to create a vibrant color. The hue points to royalty, wealth, wisdom, and spirituality, but can symbolize arrogance.
What does purple prose, earned a purple heart, and born to the purple mean to you?
Brown is a natural color that produces a down-to-earth feeling. We think of rich soil to grow plants and the texture of brown dirt between our fingers. However, for a person who is isolated on a farm and feels imprisoned, brown can symbolize sadness and depression.
A few phrases of interest: chocolate brown, coffee brown, brown out, brown bag lunch, brown nosing, and brown-as-a-berry.
White signifies purity and innocence. The color also means spaciousness or a sterile environment. A bride often chooses a white wedding dress to symbolize her love and commitment to the groom. Hospital environments are often termed white. Settings of ice and snow can be referred to as desolate or pure and beautiful.
Consider these popular expressions: white lie, sterile white, white tie affair, white elephant, raise a white flag, and white-as-a-sheet.
Pink is a romance color—love, feminine, calming, and soothing. Many book covers for romance novels use pink. I’ve heard women described as pink, a mixture of red and white. If white represents purity, and red expresses passion, it explains why men can’t live with women and can’t live without them.
I don’t like pink. It reminds me of Pepto-Bismol. Did you experience one of my personal traits in the previous sentence?
Consider the phrases: in-the-pink, pink power, think pink, and tickled pink.
Orange is a blend of red and yellow to create a warm hue. The color attracts excitement and enthusiasm, as in fall and harvest. Orange reminds many of autumn, football season, carving pumpkins, and the entrance into winter.
Consider the phrases: time to orange-up, squeezing the orange, the autumn of his life, and comparing apples to oranges.
Black carries varied emotions. To some people, the color points to evil, power, death, and mourning. In the fashion world, black means sleek and sophisticated. How a character views black indicates a unique side of his/her personality.
Consider these phrases: Black Death, blackout, black cat, blacklist, black market, black tie, and black belt.
Gray blends black and white: death and life. This is a popular color for me to use in writing suspense, and I try hard not to overuse it. Gray is rich with symbolism and shows opinions and prejudices.
Look at the following phrases: shades of gray, a gray area, give one gray hair, a Dorian Gray person, nothing is black or white, and gray is the pallor of death.
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.” Georgia O’Keeffe
How does color affect you?
