Psychology of Color

Have you ever noticed how color can shift your mood? Color is all around us. But what is color?  "Color is light and energy." (www.arttherapyblog.com.) I've purposely created this post with many colors for you to see your reaction to the various colors. An example of how color can affect our mood is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which causes some individuals to experience depression in the winter months, when darkness arrives. Or, have you experienced a shift in mood when you look at a rainbow? It is really amazing how color can affect our state of being and it is important to know what colors calm us, excite us, bring us down, etc.  For the exercise below, you can mix colors or use the colors as they are. 

Supplies: color pencils, markers, or pastels. 81/2 X 11piece of white paper.

1. Fold the paper into 4 squares.  

2. In each square you've created, write a feeling, such as mad, sad, happy, lonely, etc.
3. Using color, assign a color to each of these feelings. What color do you associate with mad? When you feel mad, is there a color that comes to mind that represents mad to you? You can color in the entire square or make a marks or images, it doesn't matter.  

It is interesting to use this chart as a guide to see if there are colors you tend to use more often in your art work. Also, if you identify a color that makes you feel happy, you might want to consider painting a room in your house this color, or buy sheets or pillows in this color. Be aware when you change colors in your surroundings if something in you changes. You might also want to wear different colors to see how that affects your mood.
Have fun playing with color in your life and see what happens!
Enjoy.