Color and Your Personal Background

Photo Courtesy of Jdemirdjian.com

I have been fortunate to have been trained by one of the foremost color experts in the United States, Ms Leatrice Eiseman.  In honor of National Color Therapy Month, Leatrice has been gracious to allow me to share with you one of my favorite excerpts from her book Colors for Your Every Mood about the impact of color and your personal background.  Enjoy!

Excerpted from Colors For Your Every Mood
By Leatrice Eiseman: eisemancolorblog.com

Color and Your Background:

Where Were You And Your Parents Raised?

If you were brought up in an area where social pressures, traditions, and
rigid color rules were enforced, it may be difficult to shake those old
dictums or clichés. For instance, one of the oldest of those dictatorial
color taboos was that blue and green should never be used in combination;
and, until the 1960¹s they rarely were. This was an especially ludicrous
dictum since blue and green are so beautifully combined in natural
settings-a beautiful blue sky providing a background for a lush green meadow
or reflected over tropical turquoise waters. Some of the most fabulous
combinations appear together in natural scenes and we never challenge Mother
Nature¹s ability to use color harmony.

Although questioning where your parents grew up might seem irrelevant, it
truly is not. Your parents and their parents and all of the generations
before you are the products of cultures whose beliefs and color traditions,
no matter how subtle, have been passed on to you. A second or third
generation Japanese American might consider themselves part of the melting
pot mainstream culture, yet there may still be the vestiges of traditional
beliefs. They may be drawn to the same quiet neutrals with accents of rich
reds, teals, and golds of their family furnishings.

A man of Spanish descent might have difficulty wearing pink even in a casual
tee shirt because in that culture, from earliest infancy, pink is strictly
for females. It takes a strong will, a rebellious nature or a very open mind
to defy tradition. Interestingly, most men of any culture don¹t have any
problem snuggling under a cushy pink blanket or looking especially healthy
in the reflected rosy glow of a pink bathroom, just as long as a woman has
done the decorating and shares the space.

Women are more likely than men to have pleasant color associations and men
are more apt to be indifferent to many colors. Why? Color is rarely part of
a man¹s education; they simply haven¹t spent enough time involved with
color. Maybe now tha there are more girls than ever sliding into home plate
and boys learning to cook, this will change. But it is still the case that
girls spend more time dressing and coordinating their doll¹s wardrobe or
decorating their doll house, while boys are involved in more active pursuits
that are generally less artistic. Little girls shop with Mom, observe her
making color choices and emulate her as their primary role model, while boys
are busy pummeling each other in sports activities. If you are a man with
many pleasant color associations, you probably have an eye for color or were
encouraged (fortunately) by parents or teachers to exercise your ³right
brain² activities. Lucky you! Your life will certainly be enhanced by a
greater appreciation of the colorful world around you, not to mention the
unleashing of that creative urge that lies deep within you, as it does in
every human being, male or female.

Advertisement