Favourite Colour votes are in!

There was a total of 66 votes and here are the results.
Definitely not an all conclusive study but an interesting exercise no less.
Most of the votes below came from artists and crafters from Etsy.
(The color palettes you see below were put together on ColorLovers. Definitely a site that is top of my list!)













Yellow - NO VOTES

Grey - NO VOTES

White - NO VOTES

Pink - 1 VOTE

Black - 1 VOTE







Scarlet/Coral - 1 VOTE

Gold - 2 VOTES

Brown - 2 VOTES

Lime - 3 VOTES

Magenta - 3 VOTES





Red - 4 VOTES

Indigo - 4 VOTES

Orange - 5 VOTES

Turquoise - 8 VOTES

Violet - 9 VOTES






Green - 9 VOTES
and the WINNER IS...........Blue with a resounding 12 VOTES


But what does this all mean?

Our favourite colours are influenced by many things including our culture, society, family and peer groups.

Our reaction to different colours can also come from experiences that we associate with colour.

Perhaps a teacher or carer that you didn't like constantly wore a particular colour or you were forced to wear a uniform of some sort which brings unpleasant associations for you.


One story I have heard speaks of a fellows aversion to blue.


According to the story this fellow had been involved in a train crash and had been lying injured in one of the twisted and wrecked carriages for some time.

All he could see was a blue light (some sort of emergency exit light or the like) shining near him.

He became totally adverse to blue after this as his thoughts associated this colour to his experience in the train.

Sometimes we can have an intense aversion to a colour but it's logical cause is unknown to us...perhaps it comes from an early experience that has been repressed and buried.



I once had a student in one of my classes who really had a strong dislike of blue also.

After we delved into this for a while and explored the deeper symbolism of the colours, she came to understand that she preferred to be surrounded by people who were highly independant and self sufficient and that were energetic and motivated (all things that relate to a 'red' person - which was her favourite colour) and that blue represented for her the antithesis of this.



I followed a thread recently in the forums on Etsy where the majority of people commenting noted their dislike of the colour yellow.

This shows in the results of the this poll also.
Yellow is about us being in our own 'power' free from the fears that hold us back!


The following quotation is from Marianne Williamson. To be precise, it is from her 1992 book, "Return to Love" (hardcover p. 165, paperback pp. 190-191):


"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?" ....


This a perfect example of our 'yellow' fear of letting our light shine.


From most of the sources I have read the fact that the poll has shown blue to be the favourite colour does not surprise me.

Blue is constantly quoted as the worlds favourite colour. A sweeping statement I know but I can't find any evidence to the contrary.


Blue is about the nurturer and carer within us. It is also about saying 'yes' to what comes our way (good or bad).

Through blue we seek peace and calm and a certain sense of co-operation. It has connotations of reliablity and trustworthiness which I guess are traits we would all like to embrace....

Spinning wheels of colour energy…

Lying within each and every one of us are receptors and transmitters of colour. These ‘devices’ are called chakras.
There are seven main chakras and each one of these equates and responds to a different colour of the visible light spectrum and is responsible for a different function. They are the spinning ‘wheels’ or vortexes of the subtle anatomy system and in fact get their name from the ancient Sanskrit word for wheel.

The chakra system is an energy system that has been recognised by Eastern culture for many centuries and each chakra is traditionally depicted as a lotus flower with a different colour and a different amount of petals. The petals represent the vibratory rate of each chakra and correspond also to the different vibratory rate of each colour.

The seven main chakras of the human body consist of;





Base chakra – red – our connection to our physical body and life.







Sacral Chakra – orange – our emotions







Solar Plexus Chakra – yellow – our thoughts and mind function







Heart Chakra – green – our feelings and centre for love









Throat Chakra – blue – our self expression and communication






Brow (Third eye) Chakra – indigo – higher mind function








Crown Chakra - violet - our connection to our higher consciousness and inner wisdom



The chakras act in two ways – they both draw in and give out energy and act to sustain us physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

Working with colour as a therapist is all about working with the chakras and the colours of the spectrum to bring vibrational balance back to the energetic system of the living being.

Every part of the body from the bones and organs right down to the smallest cells at a microscopic level has a different vibration and consequently a different colour vibration to match.
The chakras are a system that can be likened to a complex set of gears – one is dependent on the next for the system to work.

They can become dysfunctional by being overactive, under-active or blocked which in turn can lead to the manifestation of a range of physical, emotional and mental conditions.

The ideal is to catch the imbalance while it still exists at an emotional or mental level and before it manifests into the physical.

We can pick up a clue as to what colours we need at any given time by becoming aware of our colour needs, what colours are we currently attracted to and what is our reaction is to the different colours in our world.

Meeting a fellow Colorwoman

I was so excited recently when I came across a fellow Etsyian with the name Colorwoman..!!!!!!

“Now here is someone I’ve just got to get to know” I said to myself.

Sure enough when I had a look at her fabulous shop on Etsy I was ecstatic…here on the page in front of me was another color devotee!

Connie (aka Colorwoman) makes gorgeous jewellery that embraces an understanding of the basis of Colour Therapy – the Chakra System- an energetic system within the human body.
(more on the chakra system in a future blog)








Connie has been making jewellery for quite some years now and this is what she told me about becoming ‘colorwoman’ -

“I've been colorwoman for 10 years. When I bought my first iMac ten years ago I needed an online name and I thought, "if I were a member of a tribe, what would they call me? "Colorwoman' was the immediate answer that popped into my head and I've been living into that title for a decade now".

Jewellery is a great way to add the energy of colour to your day.
The use of colour for healing mind, body and spirit is certainly not new. It was simply forgotten.
In the healing temples of Ancient Egypt crystals were used as treatment and rooms devoted to a particular colour were set up so that the person in need of treatment could bathe in sunlight that was streaming in through coloured glass.







Connie's colourful pieces, made from both crystals and vibrant glass beads, are made with the loving intention of bringing color to the wearer.

Each piece has been bought into the world in an environment that celebrates the joys of colour. Her studiois painted every colour of the rainbow inside, so as she works with colour she is also truly surrounded by colour !



I love this quote from Connie about what Etsy means to her,

"We do what we do, the way that we do it, because if we didn't there would be a hole where something beautiful is meant to be" Jan. 2008.

Have a look at Connie's shop. She is a prolific craftswomen with many items to choose from.

As well as her beautiful jewellery pieces there is an awesome assortment of coloured glass beads.

You would surely have to find the perfect colour for yourself here!

I noticed also that Connie runs classes in jewellery making and even offers sessions for birthday parties.


I just wished I lived closer...

Seeing Colour

Well... the new features are (for the most part) up and happening on the Rainbow Revolution website. Apart from some minor glitches that are being ironed out it's all systems go!

One of the amazing things about colour that has come to me whilst working with my sister to get the website all happening is how differently we all see colour at times.

I have found this often in classes that I am teaching with variations of green and blue. One of my favourite parts of a class is when I ask the students to bring in turquoise items for the weekly collage table. All sorts of variations arrive and lively discussions can go on for hours about whether it is turquoise, blue or green. For some, what is definitely a green can be seen and described by others as a turquoise or even a blue and visa versa. I have noticed in the poll at the side of the blog here that so far most people's favourite colours fall in the range of the blues and the greens...I wonder what people are really seeing then?

I did a quick search to find out how many colours the human eye actually can see and it is amazing to note that some scientists suggest we can differentiate between millions of different variations! I guess there is also the problem that while we may be able to perceive all these different colours we sure don't have that many different ways of describing them....or do we?

Have some fun on the ColorLovers website naming a few colours for yourself!

Our eyes contain receptors called rods and cones that are responsible for our ability to perceive different colours. The cones are for colour vision and the rods are more for distinguishing light and dark, night vision etc. Colour blindness and night blindness are usually caused by a disturbance in these receptors. Our range of visible colours exist in a very narrow bandwidth on the electromagnetic spectrum so in that way we are limited. Some animals, insects, fish and birds are able to see colour that exists outside of the range available to humans. I would love just a glimpse of what they can see!

I always find it fascinating to watch the colours that I work with change(when I am dyeing my fabrics ) - under different light, at different times of day, wet or dry...It is like the best light show in town!

I'm really excited today!

The Rainbow Revolution website is about to go 'live' with all the changes that we have been working on so hard over the last few weeks.

My sister is the creative brains behind the website and nearly all things of the 'tech' category (except this blog and the etsy shop, which I continue to stumble through!) and I must say for a self taught 'webmaster' she has done an awesome job.

Basically we are putting into place stage two of our vision to bring colour understanding out to the world! Yay!!!

We will have links on the site to some great books on colour that I have recommended and used in my own studies as well as a link to our new cafepress shop which we are using to showcase our digital artwork (cos we don't have the printers etc at this stage to do for ourselves for etsy!).

We would love to use this blog as a way for everyone who loves colour to connect and share their experiences of personal growth so we can all learn more!

As soon as stage two is 'live' (no later than monday!) we will start working on stage three! Keep checking in...we would love your feedback on the website...

www.rainbowrevolution.com.au

Let the Rainbow Revolution begin......!

(and a big thank you to those that have already posted comments here)

hint - some colour meanings are very blatantly 'hidden' in the text above!

Imagine if we didn't have colours like these!














and all we had was this........

Colour Talks!

Colour Talks!

Take a moment to look around! What colours are surrounding you?
You have surrounded yourself with colour and you have chosen nearly all the colours that you have surrounded yourself with! You have made colour choices for your clothing, jewellery, shoes, bags, belts, cars, furnishings, walls, carpets... and the list goes on!

Have you ever wondered why you choose the colours that you choose?
Are you like Picasso and going through your 'blue' period or dealing with issues of love and are in your 'rose' period? Picasso expressed his emotional well being through the colours that featured in his paintings. His 'blue' period was a time of depression and sorrow and his 'rose' period was linked to his falling in love. You may be able to detect some patterns in your own colour choices. *

So why DO you choose the colours that you choose. Some people will say "it was the only thing I had that was clean to wear" or "it's the latest fashion" or " it was the only thing ironed".

Oh really......!

Why is it then that you have a favourite hue but your friend can't stand the sight of it? For that matter why does a particular shirt feel so right one day and feel so wrong the next?

If we allow ourselves a moment of introspection and open our minds just a bit, we might consider the possibility that we could be revealing a little of ourselves through the colour choices that we make.

Color has it's own 'language' and once we become conscious of this, we have opened the door to a vast supply of information and some great 'tools' for self understanding and personal growth. Deepening your understanding of the ways in which you can work with colour both on a personal level and with loved ones can allow access to your 'authentic' self and foster insight and empathy for those around you.

Colour tells us so much about our feelings, thoughts and emotions. Expressions such as 'seeing red' or 'feeling blue' give us a clue to some of the understandings of colour. How DO you feel blue? Do you really 'see red' when you are angry? Was I really a murky shade of green when that awesome convertible went by the other day? (answer is...YES!)

Colour has a dualistic nature and when we explore this on a personal level we allow our subconscious self to communicate with our conscious self. The unknown becomes the known and personal growth can occur.

Imagine a world without colour !

Go on!
Just close your eyes and try. How do you feel when you do? Note your emotional response, even your physical responses. You have just given yourself a glimpse of the impact that colour has.
Colour feeds us on all levels as well as providing us with a way to communicate who we really are.

The understanding and science of colour has a vast history and a huge future. Modern science and it's continual research into the effects of colour and alternative therapists that are drawing from and expanding on the knowledge and practices of the ancients are opening the way for an incredible understanding and use of colour that can only enhance our lives and the lives of the generations to come.

Colour is Soul food...Are you hungry?