Tag Archive for: Colors

Stop! You’re Hurting My Eyes!

By Lois Winston

One day when my oldest son was two years old, I was singing to him in the car when he covered his ears with his hands and cried, “Stop singing, Mommy. You’re hurting my ears.”

It turns out he was born with perfect pitch, while I was saddled with two tin ears. Ever since I failed to make the cut when I auditioned for the elementary school talent show, I’ve known my singing leaves quite a lot to be desired. I’m no Taylor Swift or Beyonce. Never was and never will be. I wouldn’t even qualify as a backup singer for a third-rate tribute band. However, I never realized until that moment just how off-key I was.

Lately, I’ve felt the urge to rant at car manufacturers for hurting my eyes the way my singing had hurt my son’s ears. Have you noticed the garish colors of so many new cars? Some are the equivalent of chalk on a blackboard, shrieking and shrill, while others can only be described as homages to the scatological. What were they thinking? We’re living in a world that bombards us 24/7, causing us to yearn for anything soothing, whether it’s soft clothing, comfort foods, or escapist fiction.

The psychology of color is big business. Color experts get paid big bucks to determine which colors should be used in everything from clothing to home décor to appliances to automobiles. If you’re old enough to remember the sixties (or have a penchant for anything mid-century modern), you know that harvest gold and avocado green were the two colors that reigned supreme back then. Do you think it was a coincidence that your mother’s appliances matched your father’s station wagon? Those color choices were dictated by people deemed authorities in the field.

Has psychology done an about-face? If the screaming oranges, greens, and yellows aren’t bad enough, the other group is awful in another way. I really don’t want to drive around in a vehicle that reminds me of the last time I changed a diaper or hovered over the porcelain throne with stomach flu.

I wish some knowledgeable person would tell me what in the world were these so-called experts thinking. I’m flummoxed.

How about you? What do you think about the colors of automobiles you see on the roads lately? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free download of the audiobook version of Drop Dead Ornaments, the seventh Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery.

 

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USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.

COLOR Me Spring – Clicking Our Heels


COLOR Me Spring – Clicking Our Heels

Spring is
here! We’re putting away our winter clothing and looking at things in a new
light, so we thought we’d share our favorite colors and why we like them with
you.

T.K.
Thorne –
I am attracted to intense colors. Bright yellow, like the
deep yellow daffodils or black-eyed susans, has always been a favorite (in fact
I wrote a children’s short story once about the color yellow that went
missing), but the best is the blue of runways lights and police lights. I have
to make myself look away from the latter, especially when I’m driving, because
they mesmerize me.

Debra Sennefelder – I don’t have a favorite color.
Though I do tend to navigate towards blue for decorating.

Kathryn Lane – I love vibrant colors, purple, red, and orange; yet when I
glance around my living environment and my clothes – I find a lot of blue, in
varying hues from turquoise to navy. There’s a vibrant new blue on the market,
called YInMn blue, that has a chemical makeup of Yttrium, Indium, and
Manganese, making it stunningly bright.

 

Dru
Ann Love

Blue – I associate freedom with the color blue.

 

Saralyn
Richard

Red. It’s the color of my stilettos!

 

Robin Hillyer-Miles – My favorite color is this greenish color that I can’t describe,
I only know it when I see it. A couple of years ago I was in the car with my
mom and I pointed to a building and told her that it was my favorite color, she
said that has been my favorite color since I was three years old.

 

Debra H. Goldstein – Blue. Any shade works for me as I find the color peaceful
whether it is the blue of a blouse or the sea-green blue of water at the beach.

 

Lois Winston – Black-because it’s so slimming!

 

Linda Rodriguez – Red and purple – can’t choose just one.

 

Mary Lee Ashford (1/2 of Sparkle Abbey) – Turquoise blue and I think it’s probably
related to my love of the ocean. I find the color so soothing and serene.

 

Anita Carter (1/2 of Sparkle Abbey) – I love purple. I also like red and blue,
but purple is my favorite.

 

Shari Randall – I’m in love with the color of David Austin’s Juliet roses – a
soft and warm peach/coral pink. My daughter and I had similar roses in our
bridal bouquets.


Cathy Perkins – I’m not sure I have a favorite color. Different ones appeal at different times and different situations. Yellow in the winter when the Pacific NW is painted in shades of gray. The vibrant green of spring leaves. Blue sky and water. The pop of power red in accessories…