Oniric Mermaid's blog/

(Thinking Colour I I is a very cool entry too. You might go and visit it and be surprised...)

Kandisky once said, The first colours that made a strong impression on me were bright, juicy green, white, carmine red, black, and yellow ochre. These memories go back to the third year of my life. I saw these colours on various objects which are no longer as clear in mind as the colours themselves. (Reminiscences, 1913)

My memories of childhood are full of visual things, but there is no colour (or mix of colours) I love at present that I can track back to experiences in my childhood, except for one. What I remember about my childhood years are lights and atmospheres, a transparent veal of “whiteness” and sunlight, those of the southern parts of the Mediterranean. I remember also the calming effect of shadows on the walls, with the visual tricks that light playing puts into play. White is one of my favourite colours, but not that exact white of my childhood, by the creamy softer hues of ivory. The colours of my teens were red and fucsia, the latter being very much part of fashion of those years. My Uni colour was black, from head to toe. Ivory, black and red are my three favourite colours, those related to phases of my life, and those that I wear more often.

However, Kandinsky psychological approach (which is partially backed by modern psychological studies on psychology of colour) is not enough to explain why I am so attracted to other colours, like some varieties of aquamarines, clear greens, dark bright yellows and ochre varieties as the ones used in Aboriginal Painting. Or why the combinations red-black, green-red, turquoise-pinks are so attractive to me.

Colour affects me immensely, so much so that if see any two colours tthat not match, my eyes roll over and emit a loud “fatal error fatal error fatal error”. The expression of my face can even change if you are wearing those (to me) unmatchable colous, no matter how fashionable they can be.

My preference for certain hues and saturations within a colour, for some colours mixed together, and my attraction -above all- towards irisdiscence, bokehs, and different levels of brightness on colour have to do, after all, with my attraction towars Light more than to any hue or colour. My attraction to light is one of the things that I can track back to my childhood... perhaps Kandisky was right after all... a little bit.