My Colour Obsession

I am obsessed with colour: I love colour, purely for the sake of it. I can spend hours whiling away time, in wonder at the colours of sunlight, clouded big skies, the tones of a pink rose, the richness of the reds and purples of stewed plums, the variety of colours in bark and leaves, lichen and mosses - and not necessarily in deep thought, just experiencing pure enjoyment and delight of the particular shade of colour I’m looking at.

One of my standard phrases is “what a beautiful colour”, to whoever I am with; often they look, and then look away, without saying anything to suggest they have registered the same delight.

My obsession has deepened through studying informally the colouring of people (their skin, eye and hair tones) over the years, and the particular shades, or rather palettes of colours, which suit them. This is commonly known as “Colour Analysis”, or “Seasonal Colour Analysis”. I talk about how I came across this in another post My Introduction to Colour Analysis.

More recently, my interest in colours has extended to starting beginner art classes – something that I have wanted to do for many years, and not got around to, as I always thought I was “not arty” (... I now realise that this is a false belief, as anyone who can hold a pen and write has the ability to learn to draw and paint if they are taught a few simple basics). I draw and paint in my beginner’s “novice” way purely for pleasure and mainly with acrylics, although sometimes with pastels or watercolour. Art allows me to look at, and study, colourful subjects in detail, and provides me with huge enjoyment. I’ve also discovered that I am fascinated by colour mixing aspects and theory.

I realised soon into painting with acrylics, that my years of informally studying colour, and Seasonal Colour Analysis for people, stood me in good stead with understanding colour theory for art – and vice versa, in that colour mixing for my artwork is now helping to make sense of some of the unresolved questions in my head about Seasonal Colour Analysis.

I do struggle coming to terms with my colour obsession: the voice in my head tells me that it is “shallow” and there are far more important worldly issues and problems out there to deal with, that will make a real and tangible difference to people. So I don’t tend to talk openly about it. But it brings me great joy and happiness, and colour is all around us; we only have to open our eyes and “see”. By stopping for a brief moment to notice and “see” we can experience simple moments of joy as we go about our daily lives, whatever we are doing and wherever we are; moments that are free and always there. 

Maybe that is why colour gives me so much pleasure – access to small, being in-the-present, moments of peace and joy, and it makes me feel happy.