Color: Theory and Emotion

1. Describe Color and it's effects on emotions. Use the appropriate vocabulary of color in your posting.

Color is a function of light. What we perceive as color is actually reflected light. For example, we perceive an object as being red because the object absorbs all the colored rays of light except the red ones. Color can have quite an effect on human emotions. For example, colors such as red, orange, and yellow are considered warm colors and are associated with sunlight and fire, while blue and green are considered cool colors, associated with water, sky, and calmness. The use of complimentary colors in a piece of art can create a feeling of unease or violence, while a monochromatic color scheme can create a soothing or somber effect.

2. What is a theoretical aspect of color that most intrigues/fascinates you? Why?  

The theoretical aspect of color that most interests me is optical color mixing, which is when our eyes blend small patches of different colors that are close together into a new color. This interests me because it reminds me of when I was a small child—back in the days before flat screen TVs—and I would press my face against the glass television screen and seen nothing but thousands of tiny dots, but as I backed away the dots would coalesce into an image. I found this extremely fascinating as a four-year-old. 

3. In the Color video, what made the biggest impact on you in regards to color and it's effects on emotions?                                                                                                        

What made the biggest impact on me was the artist’s comment about an early stage of her painting when she looked at it and said it felt violent because of the clash of red and blue, complimentary colors. She ended up darkening the shades and making the whole painting less violently contrasting and more soothing.

4. In the Feelings video, what made the biggest impact on you in regards to color and it's effects on emotions?

The part of the Feelings video that had the biggest impact on me in regards to color and its effects on emotions was how the narrator says how the 18th century artist Francisco Goya speaks his imagination. The colors he chooses for his works come from his imagination, and therefore also from his emotions and come pouring out onto the canvas.