Color and Feelings

1. Color has so many effects on emotions.  In the assigned video about the use of color, I learned that the use of the color red could have an effect on your appetite.  I also learned that the use of color can lay a desired effect on a person with the artists intent.  Vincent Van Gogh had used clashing reds and greens to relate his utter distaste and disgust for a diner in what he called his worst painting ever.  Color has the effect an artist intends it to have in how the artist applies it, taking into account that certain colors have a psychological effect on emotions, an artist can manage this easily. 

2. It is fascinating tome to learn that use of color can make people feel certain feelings.  For instance in our text I read that the use of blue is used in Japanese train stations to calm people down that are thinking of committing suicide by jumping in front of trains.  I think that the psychological effect that something as simple as color has on our emotions in just tremendous, and yet I had no idea about the theory behind this.

3. The fact that when these artists were painting on walls by applying plaster first, and somewhat sketching their painting on the wet plaster as preparation was astounding to me.  They only had one chance to paint the color and deliver the emotion they were feeling in one shot, accompanied by a contract dictating how much of each color they were allowed to use.  This must have been a lot of pressure for an artist.  So the history of these paintings had the biggest impact on me.

4. The biggest impact was seeing how using dark colors to create a large space that can house so much action is important to the feeling of a painting.  It seems that by offering space in it itself give virtual room for many emotions and events to take place in a painting and can in turn make a viewer feel multiple things.