Using Colours to express your feelings like my 3 year old nephew

Emotional Intelligence using Colours like a boss.

Being around my family and sister the last few years I have had the chance to truly express myself and gather the courage to say things that I didn’t think I could. This new found confidence I have cultivated is something that my nephew seems to have perfected at his early foundational years.

My nephew came home and described his day and the things that happened between him and his friends. He said in his cute baby voice,

“I’m Red with Harvey, he snatched my toy!”

I looked at his mum and asked if she had taught him how to express his emotions in colour, since she is also an artist and art educator, and she said, “ No, the school did."

I was shocked, how forward thinking, teaching children in their early years to connect emotions and colors. This is an exceptional skill and one that helps strengthen their ability to feel heard, reinforce learning colours and most importantly, to communicate how they feel.

I might want to add that he is 3. If I could go on to explain this interesting concept more, I’m going to have to give you a brief spiel on colour theory and the accuracy of my nephews' expressions of his feelings on a daily basis. With a lot of us adults suffering from the adulting world, I think we should try more to emulate this ability to express ourselves like this, clearly and directly.

Here are some basics below using the language of my nephew in comparison to the lingu.

Colour	My Nephew’s Expression	​What they mean/ symbolise in art (generically)
Red	Angry	Anger, hate , danger , intense, fire , passion, love , lust
Blue	Sad / down	Saddness , melancholy, blue , calm, water
Green	Calm ​	Nature, calm, health, envy
​ Yellow	​Happy	Happiness, sun, warmth , boredom, depression

Like many things in the world, colors can have two meanings, positive and negative, which can often be represented by the shade, tint or tone of the hue; the value of the colour. In more simple terms how dark or light a colour is. But I will add that even the temperature of a colour can affect our mood and feelings with it.

How Artists have used colour

Artists for centuries have studied colour and its effects on our mood and emotions and how it can enhance, ignite, illuminate or manipulate our understanding of what we see. I am only scratching the surface of color and artists that have explored colour.

Pablo Picasso

Let me start with one of the greats we know as Pablo Picasso. Renowned for his abstract art, Picasso did not just do abstract art filled with bursts of colors and so called ‘random’ shapes. This style took years of confidence, learning, self expression and experimentation to produce such forward thinking art of his time and art that we still appreciate till date. His early works during the Blue period 1901-1904 echo the melancholic atmosphere and despair of Paris as well as his personal turmoil after loss. In 1904-1908, his next collection the Rose period portrays hope, family, love, happiness and joy, but more noticeably the juxtaposition of color palettes to express this sentiment.

Mark Rothko

Orange and Tan, 1954

"White Band No. 27," 1954

Colour can stir many feelings and what greater way to understand this is by standing in front of the abstract work of a Mark Rothko's Color field paintings. His large pieces immerse the viewer in a color and can stir up intense overwhelming feelings due to the scale.

Amy Sherald

Finally an artist that explores colour from a modern lens in Amy Sherald, known for her portrait of Michelle Obama, she captures the beauty of modern African American culture in vivid and subtle tones seen in the skin, clothing, and space that surround them. Her work brings to life the vivacious lifestyle we infer the subjects (figures) live in .

My thoughts on colour and our experiences with them

But take note that art speaks to all of us on a different level and can open us up to feelings we didn't even expect, from happy to sad and all the emotions in between. There is not one prescribed way to feel about a certain thing or one way to express those feelings but it is important to keep ourselves open to experiencing art, colors, and emotions no matter what they may be.

We learn about ourselves in those very moments. When next you see a piece of art, think about your first thoughts and feeling of the art, how do the colors make you fee? You can use my table above to help navigate what that feeling may be. Take note of them.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of color in Art. Stay tuned for more!

Written by Karen Gager

KAYG.ED

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