Brown! Brown! Everywhere!
Brown brown everywhere! I seem to be overwhelmed lately by the color brown. Here in the Northwest, it has become the dominant color of the season. Dull you might think, but not so… brown gets a bad rap. It actually is an interesting color that rarely gets talked about, always hidden behind the brilliance of the other colors in the spectrum. So…I’m talking about it!
Brown is often considered dull because it is basically around all the time but seldom noticed. It is most often the background that shows the brilliance and vibrancy of other colors. It is basic, neutral, earthy, natural. There is wholesomeness to it. It is at this time of year here (late autumn) that it is noticed most in nature. The brilliant colors of the harvest are gone and it is time for the background to be noticed. Dying and dead leaves, the brown of bare trees and branches, the tan of stalks and fading grasses, bare rocks showing on the hillsides and oh…luscious mud!
Brown is a mixture of other colors, which gives it a wide range of hue and meaning. Basically, it is red, blue and yellow mixed together. Considering the properties of these colors, I can now imagine what brown holds. It has the solidity of red, the simplicity and friendliness of communicating blue, and the organic warmth of sunny yellow mixed in varying degrees to produce its hues and shades. These combinations are subtle, but powerful.
When you think about it, at this time of year brown is good for us. It is earthy. It keeps us grounded at a time of year when we would like to escape. It is dependable. As we become more internal and spend more time indoors, it keeps us connected to the world outside. It is stabilizing. In our world at this time, we are searching for that stability alone and together, at home or occupying! It is wholesome and warming, as hot chocolate, a cup of hot coffee, baked apples and potatoes, cinnamon, wood for the fire, a brown bag lunch.
Nathan Hale said, “Be sensitive to your sensitive inner capacities to respond to color.” With this in mind, I am now enjoying the dullness of this brown time and soaking in all of the earthy wholesomeness that I can before the predicted “white stuff” comes along.
One final thought: It is said that brown is an appetite stimulant. So if you feel that you are eating more and packing the food in as the hungry brown bears getting ready to hibernate, there is reason for it and you are not alone!
February 3rd, 2012 at 4:19 am
Much Thanks!…
Thanks for taking the time to provide us all with the info!…