My Love of Color

‘Telling My Own Story’, 2021, Gouache and mixed media on paper, 9.5” x 13”

I wake up thinking about color.

My dreams are colorful, and I often remember a dream because of the colors in it. When I get dressed for the day it’s all about the color, which is also how I buy and/or make my clothing. Which color shirt, lipstick, earrings today? Am I trying to be noticed or understated today? Black, hot pink, red, blue, purple, or dark gray? What’s the color mood for the day, what am I feeling?

If I’m really feeling myself, I wear lots of color - one of my hot pink jackets, or that vibrant sweater in reds and pinks and purples made by an artist friend, my deep indigo dress, the purple dress with orange sunflowers, or the red print flannel top that has been one of my favorites this winter. I never wear beige or other so-called neutrals, they look horrid on me and I don’t feel at all good in them. I’m currently at an impasse regarding my wardrobe, as the colors are changing again, though I tend to stick to my mainstays of rich tones - pinks, reds, burgundy, purple, orange, olive, indigo, black, and of course sparkly is very important. I am working on becoming braver with wearing color.

I’ll know I’m really in an in between space when I can’t find my color, nothing quite fits the bill. The fun part is being able to have new colors, which is where being a painter comes in handy. I can just go play with paints and colored pencils, and create a new color for myself. Sometimes painting is simply an exercise in self healing, and then a new painting is created too!

Color has emotional energy, it has a mood. I’ve got my favorite color palettes, and I’ll bet you do too. They change over time, depending on the year, and my life at that time. Becoming an artist was, for me, a lot about getting to work with color in a whole new way. I could learn to make colors sing together, or do some wild and interesting magical things. Whether in fashion or textiles or paint, color has often been the inspiration for why I created something to begin with.

In art school, I took a Color Theory class that opened up a whole new world of color possibilities for me, and helped me become more sophisticated in the ways I thought about and worked with color. Working with colored paper to create specific relationships between colors was much harder than it seemed it would be. Art school was an introduction to a world I hadn’t been able to see until I stepped in to look around. Then I had to decide how to make it mine.

Detail of ‘Telling My Own Story’, 2021

As a clairvoyant I work with color every day.

Color is part of the language of seeing. Early in their training, clairvoyant students learn how to look at color as energy and information, and it becomes an integral part of seeing and communicating at a clairvoyant level. When I learned this as a new clairvoyant student way back in the day, it was no surprise to me that I was drawn to this training - it was another kind of art school in a way!

As I grew and became more skilled at seeing energy and pictures and colors, and working with them in my readings and healing work, I was also healing myself. Clairvoyant training is where I found my permission to become the abstract painter I’d longed to be. Color is energy, and you can feel it - you know this already. You have your own color language, separate from how others around you see and experience color. As a clairvoyant teacher in the Art of the Seer training, I teach students to read information they see in color. It’s a simple yet deeply complex way of receiving information, and it’s something you do all the time even if you’re not aware of it.

One of my favorite Clairvoyant Healings to give is the Color Healing, which you can find on my psychic website at this link. It’s a magical deeply healing session in which color is the healing tool. A clairvoyant reading begins with finding the color vibration for the reading, which is the color the person being read is currently vibrating at energetically. Color doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone, as each of us has our own unique truth about color.

Color as symbol

Color is used symbolically everywhere in your life. The worldwide show of support for Ukraine with people and places wearing the yellow and blue of that country is beautiful to see, and encourages more people to step up and support Ukraine’s fight to vanquish the invaders of their country. As a consciously placed symbol, color has meaning.

We have all experienced and seen colors change in our lives, generations have their own colors too. I grew up in the 1970’s, which is famous for love it or hate it avocado green, burnt orange, and gold. Sports teams, branding, national flags, schools, stop lights, and more - all use color to communicate information.

Life is filled with color! It’s almost spring here in the northern hemisphere, which means flowers. I’m already seeing them pop up around my neighborhood, and today’s walk will be all about noticing the returning colors.

Featured painting, ‘Telling My Own Story’ is available as of this post in my online storefront here.

Prints and objects created using this image are available at FineArtAmerica. Find this piece at FAA