People always seem to think im crazy when I say that colors are bipolar. They sort of back up and give me these odd looks and until I explain why I believe so, they simply think I’ve been sniffing too much paint!
Think of color as a scale. It can go either way. For instance, when I say the word “red”, what comes to mind? Many people would say red is passion, love or sex. Others would argue that its also anger, or evil. On one side of the scale you have the passion, love, or sex. On the other you have the anger or evil. Its the same for any color. You can think of it as negative and positive characteristics of a color if you want.
Colors evoke emotions in all of us. Many of the emotions about color comes from the society we live in, while the rest comes from our experiences in life. In India, red is a symbol of purity, while in South Africa its the color of mourning. You may like a color for what it represents in your life, from it being the color of the flag of your country, to hating that particular color for it being the color of the flag your country is at war with.
When you wake up in the morning, and are trying to choose what to wear, the question “what do I feel like wearing today?” usually passes through your mind. “Feeling” being the operative word here. Your mood dictates what you pick out of your closet. What colors you choose to wear at that given day. It surrounds us as well. Logos, restaurants, malls, signs, they all use color and psychology to get you to feel a certain way the moment you look at them.
Policemen wear blue uniforms so that citizens feel like they can trust them. Stop signs are red to alert us of danger. McDonalds is red with yellow arches to make us feel happy and hopeful (the yellow), and exciting (with the red). Look around you more carefully and ask yourself how things make you feel, and you will start to notice a pattern. Red cars usually have higher car insurance rates, because their owners usually drive them faster, and they have more car accidents.
You start to realize how fascinating and powerful colors can be. How complex one color can be, and this is without going into the shades of colors and their hues! I will probably blog on different colors and try and explain their properties and characteristics. Obviously one post about all the colors at once would be too long, so I’ll divide it up! If you want to read a little more about colors, below is a magazine I created by researching colors and dividing articles up based on the color.
I hope now you see why Im so fascinated with color, why they make me giddy and you understand their incredible properties on life!
Ramblings of an Artist 
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