We continue with the article. Before I move on with it, I want to talk with you about color. The next part of the article we’ll be talking about different colors. I want to give you some detailed information regarding color that you might know about.

You know that each color has different colors within it to create the color. There are three colors that you can always count on being there. They are blue, pink, or gold and you call them undertones. One of the three colors will always be a part of the mix of colors to recreate what you are looking at. If you do not see it quickly, it’s okay. You have to be trained to see it and I’ll show you how in a few minutes.

Since we are going to be talking about red, I want to tell the difference between reds. A tomato red has gold in it. It does not go with the other reds. A tomato red needs to stand on it’s own. If you aren’t sure that you have a tomato red. Take the different colors out in the sun and if you find your eyes jumping between tomato red and a burgundy or a lemon yellow. You will see it yourself.

A lemon or a banana is a good measuring stick to use in finding out if you can gold in a color. The fruits will let you know immediately if you should put the colors together. After a few minutes, do you find yourself wanting to look away? Or does the tomato just stand out? How would you feel if the tomato was larger or matched the size of pink?

This is what happens when you put colors together with the wrong undertones. You can use blue and pink with gold. They are colors that stand alone. We know them as Periwinkle blue and peach. Remember this as we talk about colors.

Before I leave, let me tell you the secret on how to tell if a color has the undertone of gold or blue and pink. I like to wear a silver or white gold ring and a yellow gold ring on my hands. I try to do this in sunlight. If you place the two rings on a color and you find the yellow gold ring stands out, then you know it has blue and pink undertones in it. If the silver jumps out, then it mean you have gold undertones in the color.

If you find your eye jumping between the two colors, then you know that the two colors have both gold, blue, or pink as part of the mix. I hope this helps you.

Now, let’s go back to the article.
“If colors exert such a powerful force on mental and physical health, it behooves us to know more about them. Here is a spectrum of colorful facts.
RED – THE EXCITER
The red family includes everything from maroon to crimson to pink (although pink-red mixed with white seems to have properties all its own). Several years ago, Robert Gerard, then a doctor candidate at the University of California, Los Angles (UCLA), studied the physiological reactions of people in a colored room, measuring blood pressure, respiration rate, heartbeat, muscle activity, eye blinks, and brain waves. The rate of activity in all these indicators went up in a red room. Brain-wave activity, which showed an immediate response, stayed high for more than 10 minutes. People who were already anxious found red even more disturbing than those who were previously calm. When the same people went into a blue room, all the physical indicators went down.”

If you are using red in your room, it works well in a room that is normally cooler than the rest of the house. As you can see above, people will feel warmer in a room that is normally colder than the rest of the house.

My daughter has a room in her home where it always stays colder than than the rest of the house. The room has a lot of floor to ceiling windows and it gets very little direct sunlight. The walls are a dark blood red, which means it has a blue undertone to it. The floors are wood and it works great in this room.

Once a group of our friends stayed in condos at a resort. One of the condos had red walls, red carpet, and drapes. Everyone staying in that condo kept coming over to ours, complaining that they wanted to choke everyone in the condo. They would come to ours to calm down and eventually return after a couple of hours angry and frustrated. It didn’t make sense to them. After I learned this, it made a lot of sense to me.

Here is a little more information that I found in other books regarding red:

“The lens of the eye has to adjust to focus the red light wavelengths; their natural focal point lies behind the retina. Thus, red is literally a come-hither color. It advances, making red objects seem nearer than they really are. A bossy color, it grabs the attention and overrules all surrounding colors. The way it says, ‘Here I am!’ makes it stand out in a crowd—whether as a party dress, an official’s red cap, or a package on a supermarket shelf. Its consciousness and power to command makes it the obvious safety color you’ll find in stop signs and traffic lights.
The attributes of red are almost all superlatives. Red has the longest wavelength and lowest energy of all the visible lights. It is thought to be the first color perceived by babies or by any person long exposed to light, the first hue to re-intrude on awakening sense. This physical phenomenon is reflected in language where it is among the oldest color names, the first to appear after distinctions between light and dark. Of the warm colors, it is the hottest and nearest in wavelength to infrared, which actually produces the sensation of heat. It is the fastest-moving color in terms of catching the eye, and has the greatest emotional impact. Red sits at the top of the rainbow.
Red shift refers to the change in the frequency of waves of sound or light, which occurs when the source and receiver are in motion relative to one another. It is most often experienced in the sound of passing sirens. When the source and the receiver are approaching each other, just as sound becomes higher pitched, light becomes bluer. It becomes redder when source and observer are moving apart.”

Next time, we will talk about pink. It’s a big color.

I apologize for the wait of the power of colors series. We are going to talk about the color pink. Some people think the color pink is a form of red. In a way, they are right. Yet, pink has elements within it that is totally different than red. The color pink is soothing and calming while red causes the opposite effect. As you read what is in Leslie’s article, you will see for yourself.

PINK THE PACIFIER

Pink is restful: it can even convey a purity that makes people reluctant to desecrate it. In a study done by graduate students at Texas Wesleyan College, Fort Worth, children kept in different- colored corrals were given a variety of playthings, including paints and crayons. The children eagerly decorated all the corral walls except the pink ones, which remained virtually spotless. When the researchers regrouped the children to see if these youngsters who painted the most graffiti would have differently in another group, the results were confirmed: Pink walls effectively kept off graffiti.

A study of 153 men at the U. S. Naval Correctional Center showed that a particular shade known as Baker-Miller pink can curb aggressive tendencies and actually reduces physical strength. When prisons began using Baker-Miller pink, some were able to lower the number of guards on duty. At latest count, says Schauss, more than 1400 hospitals and correctional institutions in America are using pink for its tranquilizing effects.
“The calming effect of pink begins in about two and half seconds,” says Schauss. “It is noticeable in ten to fifteen minutes. In forty-five minutes, it is fully realized. The younger you are, the faster it works on you.”
And like any drug-type reaction, pink responses can get out of hand. For example, pink walls should not be used on psychotics, Schauss says. The pink color relaxes psychotics outwardly, but their minds remain disturbed. This creates a dissonance, which disturbs them, still further.

In other studies, the color pink was found to animate intelligence and respect. The color peach has a different effect on us. People add gold to the color pink to create peach. The gold removes the calming effect of pink. Research has shown gold or yellow stimulates someone to action. If you add it to pink, then you have altered the emotional effect. You have toned down the yellow by adding a calming color and there is nothing wrong with it.

To understand the difference between the two colors is known to be hard. If you want to know the difference between pink and peach, you can use gold and silver. I like to wear a gold and silver ring on different hands. This way, when I happen to see a piece of clothing in a store, the rings help me see if gold is mixed in with the pink.

I place the two rings on the color. If gold jumps out to me, then I know there is no gold within the color pink. If my silver ring jumps out to me, then I know someone has added gold to the color.

Sometimes, your eye jumps back and forth trying to land on a ring. When this happens, it means there is gold in the color pink, but not enough to make it a true peach. You might find it interesting to test it yourself. The color pink is a powerful color and it helps to understand it.

Let’s take the power of colors and add them to your life. I’m going to add more articles about how color affects us in our homes and on us personally when we wear certain colors. Right now, we are going to cover the last of Leslie Kane’s article before we move on to other information.

Adding Color to Your Life
When you use colors to evoke a particular mood, you must take into account not only your own color preferences but also your environment outside the home, says Walch of the Color Association. To provide a psychological boost, your home should represent a color “break” from the outside environment.

For example, because the brown landscape in the Southwest offers very little color, people living there tend to favor flaming orange, hot pink and other vibrant colors in their homes.

“I think most people are color-deprived,” Walch says. “People have real color needs, just as they have food needs. It is human and healthy to desire color change. If I live in a white space all day at work, I need a splash of color at home. But,” she warns, “the bolder the color statement, the more quickly you may tire of it. You may love the idea of a red kitchen, but you grow bored with the real thing.”

Remember, too, that colors exist within a cultural context. “We can’t ignore the strong, long-standing associations people make with colors,” Walch says. “Take brown. The dying grass is brown; school desks are brown. We think of brown as dreary and utilitarian. So I wouldn’t want to paint my walls brown.”

When selecting paint, wallpaper, carpeting or furniture, keep in mind that color is partly determined by the light in which is seen. A carpet sample that looks fresh green under the store’s cool white fluorescent lighting will appear hunter green under daylight fluorescents and olive green at home under incandescent light. So be sure to check your paint or carpet in the lighting in which it will live. That way you won’t end up being so angry that you see red.

That bit of advice is very good. You do need to see your colors in the environment. Using color to create moods in your home is fun. I’ve taught one of my daughters what I know. With her classes at a university on design, she has taken it to another height. We will talk about it in another series of articles.

I want to follow Leslie Kane’s article a little more and talk about color and lights. She has some very interesting information.

Color and Light
Colored lights or colored filters surrounding a light also affect your health and mood. Oddly, light of a particular color may promote the opposite effect from paint of the same color. For an example, while pink walls can be soothing, pink light is irritating. John Ott, former director of the Environmental Health and Light Research Institute, Sarasota, Florida, reports that when staff members at a Florida radio station tried to perk up the place by replacing white florescent bulbs with deep pink tubes, announcers began performing poorly on the air. Everyone became irritable and two people resigned.

Finally, one employee pinpointed the problem: “If those pink bulbs aren’t removed, I’ll go out of my mind.” That day, the new tubes were discarded and the old ones were returned. Within a week, tempers calmed, congeniality improved, the announcers regained their competence and both resignations were withdrawn.

A new double-blind study done at the University of California School of Nursing illustrates the healing effects of blue lights. When rheumatoid-arthritis patients were in a room in which a blue colored filter had been positioned over a ceiling light, their pain lessened and in some cases disappeared entirely. Half an hour under the lights was usually enough to ease pain.

In another study, Francis Owens, MD, of Pinehurst, North Carolina, treated burn patients by exposing them to light shining through green filters. After half an hour, the patients—some of whom had second and third degree burns—reported that their pain had eased dramatically. The burns also healed more quickly than expected.

Ott also reports a striking example of interaction involving color light, psychology and physiology. Seeking an explanation for the high absentee rate in their plant, factory owners found that the blue lighting in work areas made women employees look sick. Looking sick made them believe they were sick, so they stayed home more often. The plant owners got rid of the blue lights, and absenteeism dropped.

I thought this was interesting and have played around with lights. In another study, they found the traditional yellow fluorescent tube lights drain your energy. They used them for years in stores and offices. Some people used them within their homes because they were supposed to use less energy. We are going to continue with the power of colors.

Blue is an interesting color and it has a lot of power. So many people list blue as their favorite color. I’ve run into other people who have loved it, but they are now sour on the color. There is a very important reason why.

As you can see from the title below, blue is a tranquil color. This is what Leslie Kane found about it. This is one of my favorite studies.

BLUE – THE TRANQUILIZER

Blue evokes a mood of tranquility and serenity. Almost any shade of blue will do it, from cobalt to sky blue to sapphire. An intriguing new study done at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, investigated the effect of blue surrounding a class of behaviorally disturbed children, some of whom were blind. The researchers first measured the kids’ baseline heart rate, respiration, and other physiological indicators.

Then the walls of the classrooms were painted light and dark blue. All of the physical indicators went down and the children became noticeably calmer – even the blind children! Researchers and teachers who observed the children during the one month other blue-paint period were amazed at how calm they were. When the classrooms were repainted their original brown and yellow, the children’s heart rates, respiration, and pulse rates went back up and hyperactive behavior resumed.

“The fact that the blind children experienced this effect provides strong evidence that color has a direct bio-chemical pathway to the brain,” Schauss says. “It works as long as the retina of the eye is attached to the brain. However, if a blind child closes his eyes so that color cannot strike the retina, the effect won’t work.”

According to Bonnie Bender of Pittsburgh Paints, blue can make a room seem like its color, too. “A large office was repainted from a soft orange to aqua,” she says. “The women began to complain of being chilly and some wore sweaters or jackets at their desks. They asked to have the office temperature raised. When the walls were repainted a warm color, the complaints stopped and management saved on the heating bills.”

Blue has also been shown to prevent suicide. The Blackfriars Bridge, a gloomy-looking black bridge over Thames River in London, was a favorite leaping-off point for despondent citizens.

Color consultants suggested painting the bridge Baker-Miller pink, but the public got huffy at the idea of a pink bridge. They settled for the next most soothing color, blue. The suicide rate at the bridge immediately dropped.

I love these reports or case studies. They are not some one opinion of how a color should affect us. The proof is there for all of us to think about. The power of colors is there even if we want to admit it or not.

Also, I want to add something that she didn’t talk about. You can warm up blue. When we mix gold or yellow with it, we get a periwinkle blue. This is a warmer color than a blue without the gold. This might be a tip that you might want to remember.

We are going to talk about how to use these colors together in the same room to create the right feelings in later articles. If people want, I will put this all into an e-book that you can download. Let me know!

A couple of days ago, I was talking with a group of people. When we got on the subject of color, everyone seemed very interested in my knowledge of it and how it affects us.

I explained that I had found this research by going to the library in the early 1980s. I haven’t done a lot of research since then. If I knew where I could get more, I would love to read it.

Someone requested I put my findings on my blog. So I went through my papers and found the information that I dug out of the library. My information all comes from print books and magazines. If there’s someone out there who can add to it, please do by leaving a comment at the end. I want research and not something from a book that isn’t backed up by research that you can go read yourself.

Looking over my papers, I still like this article, The Power of Color. I found some of the sources on my own and I found the information to be accurate. Today, I found myself enjoying the article as much as I did in 1980. It was written by Leslie Kane in July 1982 for a magazine called Health. In my research, I found a book I think was well written. It was printed by Architecture Digest in the early 1980s. I only have pages copied out of it because it was a limited edition, so please let me know what you want. I’ll start with the article. Here are the first three paragraphs of The Power of Color – and you can decide for yourself.

“Why should hanging pretty red wallpaper in your bedroom inspire you and your spouse to make war and not love? Why does a teacher who holds sway in a yellow-and-brown classroom complain that your child’s fidgety and inattentive while a teacher who instructs in a blue room calls him a model student? And why should your job suddenly become more depressing instead of less when the boss finally shells out for a paint job and your dirty white walls get a coat of nice fresh green?
It’s a matter of science—the science of experiencing color.”

This next part I found to be true in a couple of other books that are out of print.

“Colors are electromagnetic wavebands of energy,” says Alexander Schauss, director of the American Institute of Biosocial Research in Tacoma, Washington. “Each color has its own wavelength. The wavebands stimulate chemicals in your eye, sending impulses or messages to the pituitary and pineal glands near the brain. These are master endocrine glands that regulate hormones and other physiological systems in the body.” Stimulated by response to colors, glandular activities can alter moods, speed up heart rates and increase brain activity.”

If you find this information interesting, I will continue entering Leslie’s article and other information from books that are out of print. Please let me know how you feel about this by leaving a comment below. The picture above is one of my favorite pictures from the Hubble telescope. The color is beaufitul and this is a part of our universe. Color is important to your well-being.