Green for the Holidays
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‘Tis the season of green and red. And because Beadventures and I are taking my course, “A Passion for Color,” to Ireland - the land of green - in a few months, lets focus on green.
Green is the color of fertility and new life, growth and abundance. Nature uses it as a background for all that buds, blossoms, crawls and flies. Green harmonizes with everything in nature’s rich cornucopia.
We can discern more shades of green than any other color. The human eye perceives green using the cones located at the very center of our pupil, making it the easiest, most restful color to view. Other colors require us to use cones located at the perimeter of the pupil, leading to strain, pressure or fatigue.
Green has become a standard color in hospital interiors because it allows the eye to relax. Medical uniforms employ green for a similar purpose—to relieve and balance eyes that focus on pinks and red during surgery.
Peacefully perched between blue and yellow, green is the bridge connecting cool and warm, positive and negative. When it leans toward blue, as in teal and turquoise, green has positive associations because it is refreshing, clean, and soothing.
As green approaches yellow it becomes the ever-controversial, ever faddish yellow-green. Low-intensity, dark yellow-greens, such as chartreuse, are met with strong reactions and have unpleasant associations. Pure yellow-green, such as lime green, is easier to digest.
Green plants helps us tolerate pain. Research at Washington State University compared how long human subjects in a room could keep their hands submerged in ice water. Those in a room filled with greenery could do so for a significantly longer period of time than those without. After surgery, patients in a room with a view of green recover faster and with fewer drugs.
As nature’s background color, green pairs beautifully with most colors, especially variations of its complement: red in shades of crimson, ruby or maroon, and magenta in shades of rose, hot pink, or pale powder pink. Captivating combinations use green with variations of its two near-complements: red-orange and red-violet.
To provide harmony, balance, and rejuvenate the soul, try shades of life-giving green.
And join us for the color course in Ireland in May!
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