Headline

On color as energy

Beyond the multitude of theories and limits constructed around it, color is energy. Its vibration resonates in our body and interacts with it much in the same way as does sound, form, movement or fragrance. The vibration of color exists only in relation to light, when darkness is absolute there is only black or total absence of color. When all colors interact in their maximum possible purity, the light is seen as white. Minute particles of other colors are present in any predominant hue, for all color combines different rays of light.

Our body itself is surrounded by an emotion-sensitive bubble of colored light called aura. Far from being static, this intelligent field of energy that wraps and protects our body, beats and pulsates constantly in response to and as a reflection of our emotional, physical and spiritual condition at any given time, in other words the color of the light that surrounds us varies according to how we feel and think. As experimental work with Kirlian photography have demonstrated, our aura has 'knowledge' of its own, it reacts unconsciously to exterior stimuli (expands towards a fruit or contracts away from a poison) and to our innermost emotions (expands and radiates brightly and intensely when the person is relaxed, satisfied or enjoying an object of beauty, contracts and turns murky after an episode of fear or anger).

Color reflects emotion and emotion responds to color. This is so because each color vibrates in a specific frequency, each has its own resonance and communicates with the totality of our being in a unique way, in other words each color interacts with specific aspects of our emotional, physical and spiritual self.

Our bodies, and particularly our auras, are part of an intricate grid of interconnected electromagnetic waves that envelops the planet. Even if we are not aware of it, our body captures vital life energy –colored light– through several energy ‘seals’ connected to our aura. Each of these seals –called chakras– has affinity to a vibrational frequency of the color spectrum and each relates to well-defined aspects of our emotional and physical health. The mood-inducing attitude-driving attributes of color have long been recognized in areas such as merchandizing, interior, industrial and fashion design and even haute-cuisine. More recently the healing properties of colored lights –often used in association with geometry or music– are increasingly under study world-wide by therapists of varied backgrounds. Additionally, the healing effects of different colored lights on drinking and bath water have also been object of some interesting research.

As a painter, the awareness of these subtle attributes of color somehow alters the established ways of relating to it and applying it in the creative process. Painting becomes a way of translating pigments in order to capture not just the quality and fickle nature of light, as the impressionists and pointillists intended, but also its subtle energetic attributes.

Every color has its own energetic attributes.

Under these precepts, the ideas regarding color relationships change drastically. The specific hue used becomes much less significant than its luminosity, purity, temperature, or tone. Strangely, most cool shades of intense blue, green, violet, purple and sometimes even some reds, ‘feel’ almost the same, and may be combined indiscriminately without altering the energetic vibration. Similarly, a wide range of light pastels often share an equivalent resonance.

When applying color intuitively, the selection is not based on reasoning or theory but on a combination of physical and emotional sensations. Drinking abundant water, stretching and relaxing help the process and allow the mind to focus on the present moment and avoid mental judgement. Thus the body itself leads the process through a point of ‘knowing’ called hara, located two inches above the navel. This same point is also invaluable while viewing art or listening to music, when focusing on this point and on the other sensations on the body -particularly those centered on the seals or chakras- a resonance may be perceived that not only intercedes with our own energetic field and our innermost emotional fibers but also provides much pleasure.

Top