Yellow is Your Smart Friend Who Gets You

Am thinking of the color YELLOW today. I love and appreciate it, but it doesn’t show up very much in my household decor, my art or in my decorating. More in my art than anyplace else, I guess.

When I paint or decorate, I give a lot of thought to color. Colors have character and moods that can affect the whole room. Yellow is a very warm, bright color. It truly demands attention. Perhaps that is why I don’t dress in yellow; maybe I don’t want to attract that kind of attention. But as a young teen, it was my favorite color. I painted my whole room a lovely buttery yellow. Maybe I wanted more attention as the middle child of five. Maybe I really related to the warm, happy color. In either case, I made it my close friend for many years.

Yellow has many facets. It begins with the sun. And warmth. It sheds light on many things. It wakes you up. You are forced to pay attention. It wants to tell you something. A deep golden yellow says, “I am rich and jolly, and the warmth and I are here to help you. Stay close!” A soft butter yellow whispers, “Let’s go outside and play in the grass.” A sturdy neutral yellow looks you in the eye with a smile and asks you what you have to say for yourself. It will help you figure things out, but it wants you to have courage and confidence. In many ways, it is a teacher.

Yellow is a giver. It has such a big personality, and has so much to say and so much warmth to give, that it may not let you rest or relax much when it is around. I’m surprised I slept at all in my yellow bedroom. So a little can go a long way in a room or in a wardrobe.

I did paint my first home a very subtle pale yellow, and that worked out great! It had the big outdoors to talk to, and the sun to look up to. It added just enough yellow confidence to that little home to help it quietly stand out. The home basically smiled at you and asked how you were doing as you went by.

In decorating, yellow can change the mood of the other colors next to it. It can make black not so serious, but no less classy. Black is very strong but can be very subtle and laid back. It gets along with everyone without compromising its independence. Yellow is much the same, but is more proactive in its relationships, so it often tells its classy friend a joke to make it laugh.

Yellow warms and cheers gray; it nurtures it. It snuggles up next to gray, quietly telling it stories. Gray listens intently, and often you can see a little more yellow in gray after they’ve been hanging out for a while. A room of gray and yellow is warm and serene like a lazy afternoon on the sun porch.

Yellow looks very natural next to blue. It turns blue to a lively sky or wavy ocean. It lends a bit of its infinite power to blue. Blue is deep and has lots to say as well, but it is not as direct as yellow. Yellow understands blue; it knows blue is strong and reflects that power back to blue. Blue, whether light or dark, speaks louder when next to yellow.

Yellow just loves being next to green. Green tends to calm it down, and it makes green a bit more interesting. They put their heads together and solve the world’s problems. You just feel smarter and more confident in the future in a green and yellow room.

Yellow becomes more playful and less serious when orange shows up. They are cousins, and enjoy each other’s company so much, that they never get any sleep. They bring out the best in each other like John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They can do anything together. In a room of yellow and orange, you feel alive, ageless, and joyous.

Yellow needs to approach red with caution. Red thinks it knows everything, and thinks it is the most important thing in the world, so you have to honor that. Yellow will then deepen to gold to make red feel more supported, or lighten to toast to help red relax and be more approachable. When it does this, it brings out all the best qualities of this amazing color. Yellow loves red, so is willing to change first and doesn’t mind letting red be the star of the show. This is how it teaches red to be its best, most gorgeous self.

So you see, even though I don’t have a lot of yellow in my own home and almost none in my wardrobe, it still speaks to me. But it had to find a way for me to listen and remember.

One day, as I was browsing in one of my fave shops, I saw a lovely glint of gold. This gorgeous, smallish votive candle holder made of thick faceted amber glass was singing my name as I walked the aisle, reminding me that we were old friends. I smiled as I reached to pick it up and take it home with me with no hesitation. Evidently, yellow has more to teach me, and had to find a way for me to pay attention. So very creative. So very wise.