The Gift of Color

After such a noticeable change in my surroundings when I splashed a little color on my backyard, I started to do a little intentional color research.

I listened to a book called Joyful by Ingrid Lee and loved so many things she had to say about the power of color and the aesthetics of joy. Check out her blog if you want to benefit from her research on joy, too.

Two of the things that really spoke to me were the psychological effects of color and the difference that circles and soft edges make in a room. I decided to incorporate more color and circles into my surroundings, but first I needed to expand my ideas of what that would look like.

All summer I found myself taking screenshots and pictures of joyful colors…in food, decor, paint palettes, scenery, products. I fell in love with color. For someone whose favorite color has been black for a LONG time, this is a big deal folks.

I loved her story of the city of Tirana in Albania that had long been riddled with crime and vandalism. When a new mayor came into office, instead of adding more police or cracking down on criminals, he started by painting a building bright orange. Then another. Bright blue. And another. Cheery yellow.

It wasn’t long before the residents joined in and helped clean up the city and brighten the infrastructure. Sooner than anyone could have imagined, crime took care of itself. The citizens returned to sitting on their front porches, lingering at the cafes and planting gardens. It became a place people wanted to be again.

It sounds a bit simplistic, but I think there is merit to this color idea. We have become a culture of sophisticated greys and off white. We’ve decided somewhere along the way that color is for kids’ rooms and kindergarten classrooms.

I remember earlier this year when, on a dreary grey Oregon afternoon, I was delighted to see a woman wearing bright yellow rain boots. It was a splash of color that brightened my day!

I’ve been on a mission to add color to my life this summer. I look forward to sharing my projects with you shortly, but for today, I made a little video of some of the screenshots I took this summer to inspire my own color transformation.

When you watch it, take note of all the circles that appear that you may otherwise overlook.