Dec 16 2008
Thinking About Color
This morning while sipping java in the backyard I had this experience:
orange tree
festooned with ripening fruit –
a bluejay drops to ground
It got me thinking about color. Goldfinches, scarlet tanagers, green herons. When we buy houses we evaluate the color and imagine how we might paint the rooms. Our choice of clothing is based on color to a significant degree.
How many have witnessed this: A parent asks their young child, seated for lunch, if he or she wants to drink out of a cup or glass. The child says “cup.” Upon receiving a cup of milk, the child complains, “not the red cup, the yellow cup.”
Read pulp fiction and you might encounter an over-use of color words. “The bad guy had blonde hair, ice-cold blue eyes, and a torn, red t-shirt.” How often are descriptions used based upon sounds and smells? Don’t we also have ears and noses as well?
Why the preoccupation with sight and color?
