Sunday, April 24, 2016

Color

Color is a very important part of my life. I might dress in mostly black and carry a grey purse, but I need to be surrounded by color in order to feel “just right.”

I enjoyed listening to Angelica Vazquez in class this past week. A good part of what she does is to make sure color comes out “just right” in the print jobs put out by her company.  

I found it particularly interesting when Angela said that sometimes tweaking a print to be “just right” could mean adjusting the CMYK setting only by 1% of one of the four colors:
Cerulean, Magenta, Yellow, and black or Key (p. 128 WSINYE). 


My ColorSurvey results were as follows:







































Compared to the global results:

























My color preferences aligned with a good portion of the global results. Even if the colors weren’t exactly the same for some (good tasting, sexiness, mourning, and nausea), they were in the same color family. It would be interesting to see on a map where the test results have come from. My guess is that the bulk of the surveyed come from Western cultures, based on some of what we discussed in class.

I quite enjoyed seeking out pictures to go along with my color preferences from the survey. As stated on page 114 of WSINYE, “color evokes emotion,” and I was definitely inspired while searching for some examples. 



When I think of “good tasting” or “delicious” I see this color:
 
It reminds me of summer berries, and rich, supple red wine. 



A fruit I have always been very intrigued by, but haven’t yet come into personal contact with, is the beautiful red/purple/pink, dragonfruit.  This vibrant fruit’s color has a lighter tint than the deeper burgundy shown above, but it stays in the family as a cooler reddish purple, with a bluer tone.







Curious what this strange little fruit looks like on the inside?




I enjoyed this next picture because it references a specific Pantone color, which stood out to me from our class discussion with Angela.

From here I was reminded of one of my very favorite pastry kitchen staples, raspberry coulis (pronounced COO-LEE). 





When raspberries have been freshly pureed, they have a beautiful deep, red-purple hue that just screams out...


“EAT ME, I’M DELICIOUS!” 















Unfortunately, next we move on to a color that nauseates.


This color, reminiscent of stomach bile, really ups the "ick" factor.


For those of you who, like me, love horror movies, I’m guessing you may also think about the awful “pea soup” scene from The Exorcist when you see the sickly muted yellow-green.

To refresh your memory, or if you haven't seen the movie, I've found a more whimsical interpretation of that bilious moment.









Speaking of bile, the gallbladder is a verdent little organ that in the past has caused some very nauseating moments for me.  

We didn’t get along very well, so in 2006 she and I parted ways. Good riddance, I say.  












Considering wealth, this is the color that comes to mind:
 

This color evokes luxury and extravagance.



Recently I read an article about one of the newest sculptures to join the collection at the Guggenheim museum in New York City. 

Entitled, Maurizio Cattelan: America, this piece is a fully functional potty that will be placed in a publicly accessible single stall bathroom in the museum.  

Shy bladders beware, there will be a guard outside the bathroom at all times!
Reference, http://www.centredaily.com/news/nation-world/national/article73466132.html



In my searches I also stumbled upon quite a fascinating little beauty trend that has recently popped up among the wealth, golden facials. 

Considering the fact that gold is considered to be relatively inert, I can’t imagine that this procedure has any real benefit to the skin. 

But hey, it sure looks purdy!






And lastly, because everything comes back to pastry for me, I’ll close this week’s blog post with another mention of dessert.

Serendipity III in New York City has on its menu two rich, chocolate, decadent, and golden desserts.  

The Golden Opulence Sundae which will set the diner back a reasonable $1000.00



And it’s slightly pricier cousin, the Frrrozen Haute Chocolate, for a cool $25,000.00





Added 04/27/16
Had a little giggle last night when I found this on Pinterest:



4 comments:

  1. I LOVE this post, Stephanie! Your descriptions and illustrations really help me to follow your thoughts and considerations about the colors you encounter.
    Here's a little personal story you night like:
    I also tend to favor black and grey in my wardrobe, and up until a few years ago - I was in a "phase" where I wore black & grey almost exclusively. One day at work, my boss pointed out that I had worn a hole in the elbow of the cardigan I was wearing. I crabbed about it, telling her how much I disliked shopping for new clothes. "What?" she asked me, "Can't you just go to 'black and grey dot com'(read: black&grey.com) and grab a new one?" I told my daughters about this interaction, and they coached me on how to climb out of my black and grey hole and embrace some color!

    Jenna

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    1. Believe it or not, Jenna, I actually used to wear TONS of color! I still have a few remnants in my closet, and I MIGHT be wearing a neon yellow, orange, and pink tie-dye hoodie as I type this. I had so much color in my closet that I organized it in chromatic order. White, Cream, Yellow, Orange, Red, Pink, Purple, Blue, Green, Brown, Black, Grey. That way if it was hung on a round rack it would be a seamless transition. Yes, I'm that much of an organization nut. Now it has more to do with the fact that I really don't love shopping for clothes and I'm rather stingy with my money. Black and grey goes with everything :)

      -Stephanie

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  2. Stephanie, congratulations on an award-winning (well, it would be if I gave out awards) blog post! You do an especially good job of combining text with illustrations. I appreciate how you let us, the readers, into your thinking by providing easy-to-read prose and fun-to-look-at images. I had to google raspberry coulie, by the way, and now the song Raspberry Beret is stuck in my head, thank you very much. Why, oh why, did you include those videos of the world's most expensive desserts? Now I'm thinking of skipping class and running to Leon's. (Extra pecans and cherries, please.) You have a marvelous sense of color, which is part of why your baked creations are so lovely! Thanks for sharing. Dawn

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