My Amaryllis

It doesn’t matter what tone or shade of a color a person sees, it has a psychological affect. Depending on what other colors a particular hue is displayed with it either has a positive or a negative effect. Red, a primary color is said to be a physical color, stimulating the pulse rate. It is the longest wavelength of light and so catches our attention first. This is why it is used in stop signs and traffic lights. Positively it can be perceived as a color of strength, energy, warmth, masculinity, courage and love. It can also have the negative effects of aggression and strain. In eastern cultures it can imply luck and prosperity. Red is the color of blood, of life.

I am watching my Amaryllis bloom on my kitchen table. Its large blooming bells are a stark contrast to the dull end of February outside. They are fiery red and glimmer when the light glows through their petals. The yellow pollen on its long extended stamens seems to balance all the red. I have never been initially attracted to red, perhaps because it seems like such an ordinary color but sometimes I find it indelibly beautiful, like these petals of my amaryllis. Red is indeed powerful, whether it be sea fan coral, lava, lipstick or a maple leaf in late fall.

Sunflowers by (me) Naomi

Yellow: It warms the soul like butter warms the body. It’s the color of sun beams, bumblebees, lemons, gold finches and leaves in the fall. It even graces the scales of some Eyelash Vipers. Yellow is bold and demands attention. Why do I always feel better when I see yellow? Goethe observed that yellow is the color closest to light itself and the exact opposite of blue. You certainly never hear anyone say “I’ve got the yellows.” Yellow simply makes us feel good. Yellow and green make blue as many are aware. Van Gogh has said, “there is no blue without yellow.” Interestingly, blue needs yellow.

Thin piece of Glacier Ice (Naomi Judd Photo)

I have had a long love affair with colors of all sorts, especially rare ones. When we open ourselves to the world of colors we can begin to see more than just wavelengths of light. Somewhere along the road I realized I had an affinity, a longing even for the color turquoise. It was not long after that I sought out this color wherever I could find it and came upon a book called “Anthropology of Turquoise,” by Ellen Melloy. An entire book written on a color. Turquoise is more than a color, to me it is a feeling or perhaps many feelings. I have found that colors are most rich in their natural forms. The turquoise of glacier ice, its different hues at different depths is an entire pallet of turquoise. As an ice climber, this is one of the things that draws me to the ice. I seek all sorts of magnificent colors in nature whether it be the shimmering green glint of a luna moths wing or the delicous red that only a red huckleberry can exude.

This blog is about my adventures in color. Exotic colors, colors that make me smile or colors that make me wince and most of all colors that I can’t take my eyes off of. I pursue colors that are found in nature, but also other unexpected places and what they might mean in different cultures and how they scientifically affect people and animals.