It's A Riot Of Color!

The View From Our Kitchen

Chris Fedderson — MacroFine Musings
Kathy Lawler, Guest Blogger
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Color is the new Black.
 
Fall is my favorite time of year. It is a veritable Riot of Color in our neighborhood this month.  What is so amazing is not only the color changing but how this change varies from year to year.

We live in a three story townhouse with tall maple trees out back.  This year the tree closest to our house has been the first to turn to reds — and even deep purples — with the trees behind still green in places and others going yellow.

This view is from our kitchen, dining, and nook area on the mid level of the townhouse so we are essentially “in the trees” on this level.  The walls in these rooms are a neutral, slightly off-white color and depending on the time of day and lighting outside, the walls take on a color cast from the trees, leaving a warm, enjoyable glow in the room.  Fall has come inside this year.

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Autumn Yummyness

Not to be outdone though, our front yard is in the color riot too. Our burning bushes are a beautiful shade of dark fuchsia and our annuals haven’t yet given up for the season. There are still variegated coleus, scarlet sage, and pink azaleas actually blooming.
 
At our house, we are surrounded by beautiful color, inside and out. The importance and influence of color in our lives can’t be overstated.  Color can make us calmer or raise our blood pressure, make us happy or sad, and affect our productivity. Color is often used in expressions that describe our moods or feelings or emotions:
 

• Seeing Red
• Feeling Blue
• Looking green
• Mellow Yellow

 
We put on navy power suits, stop at red lights, have green thumbs, talk a blue streak, and may have a heart of gold.  We all have, well most of us have, a favorite color that we like either to wear or to surround ourselves with — it makes us feel good. Our choices are varied and may be tied to past associations or just a general feeling of well being.
 
In upcoming posts we will look at color in our environment and art work. We will explore how to set a mood or create a warm or cool feeling and we will have posts with more technical information involving color theory.
 
As artists, of course color is important to our work and in our house we try to surround ourselves with all our favorites.  Our Artwork, both Chris’ photography and my paintings, are very colorful and the way we use color is one of our most commented on elements. The funny thing is: the irony that so many artists dress in shades of black, myself included, even though color is of the utmost importance to us and our work.
 
Thank You for visiting,
 
— Kathy Lawler, guest blogger
 
P.s.      What are your favorite color combinations?  How do these affect you?  How have you used color, either in your artwork or in your home, in an outside-of-the-box sort of way?  We’re looking forward to reading your Color Tales in the comments.

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