Friday, March 4, 2016

How do you choose colors for your projects?

When I get a chance, I think about colors.  I know that sounds odd.  But stay with me.  Color affects our mood.  Color affects our appearance.  Color can remind us of events or people.

Usually the colors we pick to wear are colors that we feel enhance our appearance.  This is not always true.  I like the color yellow a lot.  I especially like the bright lemon peel yellow.  I can't wear yellow.  It makes me look terrible.  I can wear some pastel yellows.  I can't wear the dark yellow ochre types.  Yellow makes me feel happy and cheerful.

Most of the bright colors make me feel happy. Bright colors remind me of happy times, holidays, circuses, carnivals.  A good many of the colors when made dark are also colors that make me feel good.  I can wear some of them like dark green, purple, plum, maroon and some browns.  These dark colors remind me of my two favorite seasons, autumn and winter.  Pastels remind me of baby wear.  I love babies.   A good many pastel colors look nice on me.  But I am not crazy about wearing them.  I feel washed out in them.  This is not necessarily true but it is what I feel.

I know these things because I "had my colors done" in high school and because I have lived long enough with the same man to know if I ask a question, I'll get his honest answer.  The getting colors done was something popular in the 80s.  Basically we held swatches of solid colors near our faces and decided what looked good and what made us look sickly, clown ish, or just plain ugly.  I turned out to favor autumn tones.  Some of these colors really don't do me any favors as I said above in their pure tone.  However if the color leans to the blue or red sides, I can wear them.  I can wear purples but not pure blue.  This also changes with hair color.  Normally my hair is a medium ash brown, leaning in the last few years to a decided grey.  I dyed it recently to auburn.  This changes the colors I can wear slightly.  I still favor autumn colors but more greens and purples and less to the blues.  I still can't do bright yellows though.

I've also discovered that my eyes perceive color differently than your eyes.  So I might be able to say yes to a color with the opinion it looks great but it might not quite work for others who try to help me with color choices. It's even harder to pick colors for other people who are far away; I'm thinking of loved ones who are in another state or country.

It has been noted by Vickie Howell on Knitting Daily that even though you don't wear certain colors well, you can still wear them.  Wear a scarf or shawl in a coordinating or complementary color that does work for you next to your face.  All will be well.  I catch this show whenever I can and remember seeing this at some point.

So How do you choose colors for your projects??  Drop a note.

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