Sunset over Wellington NZ harbour
Having just spent the past 5 days running a Personal Colour Analysis training course I’ve been thinking lots about colour. Part of the course covers psychology of colour and I like to think about what colours mean to me, or to you and why.
An experience with a client one day really brought home the understanding of a “happy colour” it’s like a psychological trigger in a colour that instantly makes us feel happy. My client loved orange, he had 20 orange ties, but unfortunately orange was not a colour that suited his colouring as he had soft and cool colouring and the orange made him looked jaundiced and ill.
Interested to find out why he loved orange so much I started asking. At first he had no idea, but then with further probing about his childhood he told me that his bedroom when he was a kid was painted orange, and he associated childhood with fun, laughter, no responsibilities and freedom. So of course here was the link between his love of the colour and his emotional response to it.
Now, just because a colour doesn’t suit you doesn’t mean you can’t have it in your life. Because for my client orange was clearly so important and made him feel good instantly, it’s really important that he surround himself with orange in some way or other. Instead of wearing orange ties, and because his wife wasn’t keen on painting the walls of their house orange I suggested he find some artwork such as a sunset or the like, that was predominantly orange so he could sit and absorb the colour every day.
I’ve realised that my happy colour is a certain shade of hot pink. I have rubbish bins, folders, diary, phone cover, notebooks all in this shade of pink.
What is your happy colour?
I have a client whose happy colour is hot pink too, Imogen!
Mine are tomato red, citron and apple green. White and cream too. They ALWAYS make me smile.
I love orange too … And yellow (in the house, rather than on myself). But there are also certain blues I adore, even though they don't suit me. Fortunately they look wonderful on my daughter 🙂
My happy color is apple green, lime green, fresh Granny Smith green… I can't wear it so it's all over the house.
A certain coral.
Orange. It suits me too, but I tend to wear it in accessories.
My happy colour is turquoise as it reminds me of the ocean. I also love earthy greens and browns. I feel most comfortable in those, but have never been told if they are "right" for me.
I too am an orange fan. I remember a quilt class when the query was: What is the color you hate the most ans refuse ro use in your quilts? The most hated color was my beloved orange. Tough to swallow. I thing orange is a great color that tends to great sunsets (more often than sunrises), makes me remember warmth, happiness and strength.
The first bed sized quilt I made was a king size, white lattice pattern over bright orange batik, there was a 1 inch border in turquoise and the final border was the orange. The reverse was a fuchsia batik. I ised the turquoise batik (striped) for the binding as it also looked good with the bright pink.
Orange you glad you asked,
Lunachance
I like orange too. After years of being told that I, as a pale-skinned dark-haired/eyed person, should NEVER wear orange (or yellow for that matter) I have been trying some orange lately in a few recent outfits and whaddya know, I can wear them just fine.
Definitely red. I've always been told I look radiant in it, and it just screams "power" to me.
I am a fan of green, grass green especially – light to dark variations. I feel more relaxed and content when I see it. Luckily it's not hard to find. I can wear it, too, I discovered recently; the grass-green sweater is always in the laundry first.
– tall & slim anon
That's a tough question. I've always been drawn to dusty colours and to jewel tones, but I like pastels as well. I think my happy colour is probably a French blue, because it both suits me and I think it is a beautiful, restful colour. Other comments seem to lean towards warm colours as happy…I wonder what that means?
Why is it that I think it's a little sad that this man who loves orange and probably, up until now, thought he looked just fine wearing a tie in his favorite color, will now never feel good wearing one of his favorite ties. He'll just put on his blue tie and look at his orange picture on the wall for a few minutes.
I totally get the some colors look better than others with certain skin-tones thing-I've certainly seen that it's true on me and on others. But life is pretty short and unless this man is on TV or something…what were his orange ties hurting? I sorta wish I could give this man back this color that made him so happy.
Anon – His orange ties were making him look jaundiced and ill, and as a man he wasn't planning to put on a whole load of makeup to compensate for this. He decided he'd rather wear flattering coloured ties than unflattering ones.
I'm with Alexandra in terms of loving those fresh springy greens. I can wear it and do, but its also all over my house as accents and even my bedroom curtains.
Almost any green, but particularly strong sunny greens like late-spring leaves, and dark cool tealey and piney greens. I can physically feel a kind of relaxing "ahhh" sensation wash over me when I look at that color, just as I feel all my muscles tense up and I faintly smell a bad odor when I glance too long at any shade of red. I'm a bit in your client's shoes, in that according to my color analysis, a lot of my favorite greens are not flattering to me. I'm never giving up the malachite jewelry though!
Maybe that man in your course could feel great in orange undies??! i love muted greens – olives, sages and the like. The instantly relax me and connect me with the earth.
Or orange socks! 😉
I love yellow walls. A soft, sunny yellow. It's a color I don't choose for clothing, and I tend to stay away from yellowish colors. But for some reason, being surrounded with yellow just make me feel happy and cheerful. My entire sewing room is painted yellow, and accented with lime greens, white, pinks and some reds.
i also love orange and sky blue for my sight. i cherish white with violet as a combination. in the house, i love blue and lemon green.
Mine is medium/dark blue like the night sky before it gets to it’s darkest point or sapphire blue. I don’t choose it for clothing and most accessories because only look good in pastel blue or teal blues. I do wear it in jewelry though. I always wear sapphire earrings and a sapphire or similar colored rings. Most of my key ring accessories are blue. Water bottle and it’s case is blue. Plan to get a Macbook Pro 13-inch in Abyss from ColorwarePC. If an electronic gadget or appliance is available in blue tend to pick it. Would like to paint my bedroom a night sky color but my significant other doesn’t like dark walls.
Light aqua – reminds me of the water at the beaches around Cairns where I grew up and at Green Island. Also swimming pools! I’m not a swimmer but the colour reminds me of some great holidays.