Saturday, May 26, 2007

what is it about color?

In my old age I am going crazy with color on my feet...mostly because it works with the black I wear on my body to make me look thinner. An illusion, of course.


As you know, if you have been reading my blog for a while, I am partial to Birkenstocks (and Arche: I have a yellow pair and a red pair) I have umpteen dilapidated pairs of beige, khaki, black, and other neutral Birks which are wonderfully comfy and worn out and have been soaked with water, splattered with paint, and are a basic embarrassment if I am getting DRESSED. Enter Birks in color. I will always regret not buying a bright red pair some years ago (I was too repressed) and am making up for it now, maybe. I love my denim blue ones on the right, my Mango Birks in the middle - and the other day, lured by a $20 off Internet coupon, I could not resist buying the orchid pair on the left. I just opened the box tonight and even though they don't go with anything I own, they make me happy. Why am I bothering to tell you this? Is it art related? Well, in a sense it is because it is about color.

The psychology of color is fascinating. In the 1980's when I was a genuine, certified Color & Image Consultant (stop laughing) I was telling people what looked good on them and nevertheless, continued wearing drab colors myself. What you feel comfortable wearing and what looks good on you are not necessarily the same. Look at your art. Do you make it in the colors you wear? Or is there something else at work there? I'd be very interested in hearing how you feel about color, how you relate to it, and how differently (or not) the colors in your work play out vs. what you wear and surround yourself with in the house.

I don't own anything mango or orchid except those shoes. In small doses, wonderful. But otherwise, give me brown. And YOU?

13 comments:

lizzieb said...

these are great! Well, my orange Crocs don't go with anything I own and they are paint splattered!

Vicki W said...

Years ago when I had my colors done by Donna Fujii she basically told me to wear black - and she was right! My work wardrobe had black as the base for every piece. It makes getting dressed easy. My quilts, on the other hand, all seem to need orange or yellow!

Shirley Goodwin said...

My quilts and artwork are quite different from what i wear. I make myself work with colours that are not my favourites. I wear black mainly to my day job, though with coloured pantyhose in winter.

Deb Lacativa said...

Rayna! come to my blog and see what colors popped out of the dyefest yesterday. I've never really given Birks a fair try. I walked around in them in store once and felt the tortures of the damned because my feet are so incredibly flat. The notion of a break-in period puts me off. Your purple ones make me want to try again.

Sandy said...

Don't have any Birks, but a shelf full of Icons- the ones with the printed art work covering them- LOVE them, get them on ebay becase they are so expensive. And yup, I wear them with my basic brown in the winter, beige in the summer. My quilts enjoy all my color- ever single one seems to contain all the colors I don't wear. But lately, in my dottage, I am trying hard to be more conspicuous!

Juanita Yeager said...

I am not a basic black kind of girl(older woman) but hey lets forget that. I look good in color and I wear it when I get dress for occasionas that reguires something more than an over sized t-shirt and jeans. My T;s are all in color, my favrite ones like red and orange and fuchia and lime green and yes my quilts are in those colors except the ones I make in the winter when I have seasonal blahs and those tend to follow the autumn winter color palette and no matter how much I try to avoid doing it every year something in me just goes there.
Never had a colored pair of Birks but love and wear my red crocs and have contemplated other colors

Nellie's Needles said...

COLOR! I love them all! In my work, on my body, and in my home. Here are some colors that I consider to be neutrals ... red, green, orange.

I like your shoes. Talk about happy feet.

Anonymous said...

Rayna, you probably won't be surprised, but I wear Birks most of the time. Only one with color is a light turquoise, but now, I may go for some color. Funny thing is that some friends made fun of me, and now, they wear them, too. I just find them more comfortable...and they finally understand.

tc, rayna

JaAnBe said...

My Birks are black and brown because they go with anything. I once answered the question "If you were a color, what would you be?" by saying I'd be yellow. But then my inner chicken said, OMG! everyone would look at me. I love to put yellow in my work and on my walls.

Rachel said...

I usually wear black because I, too, am deluded that it makes me look slimmer. (Rayna, you really don't need the illusion.) But it also saves energy: I don't have to think about what goes with what--except when old black goes greenish. I use that saved energy to put lots of color in my work. Love those orchid Birks!

Terry Grant said...

My quilts and my wardrobe are actually quite similar--lots of black, lots of red. Today I am wearing an orange shirt with black jeans and my red clogs. I have new orange Birkenstocks, which would probably have been more match-y, but I love those red shoes. It's probably an old lady thing. I am loving wildly colored shoes.

Anonymous said...

I got my colors done once, and the woman told me I looked like a baked potato in beige or brown, never wear orange either. My quilts are bright rainbow colors since I started dying.

Anonymous said...

I stopped wearing Birkenstocks years ago after their name was found on a list which was supplying money to the Neonazi movement in Germany. This was right after I had spent over DM600.00 buying Birkenstocks for the family.
There have been many a scandal with Birkenstock and the way they treat their workers. There are also many alternatives to Birkenstocks out there in the stores.

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