Call & Response

Warm vs. Cool Thoughts — Cheryl

People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and its ends, but to me it’s quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations, with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spat blues. Murky darknesses. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them. ”
― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

Color fascinates me. It’s an integral part of our lives, but how many of us consciously take note of it?

Our last house was a ranch with a large great room that flowed into the kitchen and the foyer. It was in this house that I discovered how much I love blue. We painted the walls in the great room a very light blue called Light Wisteria. Dennis and I loved that color, because it had so many personalities. In the morning, when the sun was illuminating other parts of the house, our Light Wisteria walls looked lavender and the thinking behind the color’s name became readily apparent. When the sun flooded the room in the afternoon, though, the walls warmed up to a very clear sky blue, and flowers did not come to mind at all. On dark, overcast days, the walls looked almost white, and lamplight made them take on completely different tones, depending on the relative warmth or coolness of a particular bulb.

Without a doubt, I’m attracted to cool colors, but my skin tone favors warm shades.

Earlier when I started brushing PanPastels onto my white watercolor paper (which will eventually become an art journal page), I envisioned a spectrum of rainbow hues. I stopped after red, orange and yellow, though. Perhaps it was the view out my window that made me satisfied with these warm tones.

Right now, the skies out my window are a dark, threatening grey, and I can’t get enough of the warm reds, yellows and oranges on the trees. I want to turn on yellow-toned incandescent bulbs and warm up the world inside my house. If the sun was shining, though, I’d be very happy here in my cool, vibrant, bright blue studio.

My pumpkin orange house provides some interesting photographic opportunities. Here, in October, it’s perfectly at home among the autumn foliage, but I especially love it in the winter, when it’s the only sign of warmth in a world covered with cold, white snow.