“OCHRE: A WALL COLOR THT BOTHERS ME”
We are all affected by color: How can we not be for it encompasses everything in our lives. Some colors appeal to us while others send us over the edge. It’s a matter of personal taste; if you were to see my four red rooms [they are painted a cherry red] you might jump with fright and yet, to me this color is soothing. But my living room is a light tan, kitchen a hunter green and hallway an olive green: All of these colors are ones that I love and also wear a lot.
Ochre is a yellowish-brown color and one that I sometimes wear, use in artworks and instantly recognize when I see coffee with some cream. But when this color is on walls, it really bothers me. And I can tell you two specific reasons as to why it does: When I was about four, some relatives took me to an elderly woman’s house to visit. The minute I walked into this woman’s living room, I noticed the colors of the walls: They were ochre. Had no idea of the color name at that age but the more I stayed in that room with the woman and my relatives, the more frightened I got.
And so, I associated my fear of her and that room with the color. Later on as a teenager, I watched “Gone With The Wind” and the minute I saw the death scene of Scarlett’s mother, there came that sense of fright all over again to me for the lighting in that scene was ochre. Disturbed all over again.
No matter how many times I have seen this movie [ forty times would be a guess,] when that scene appears, I can’t watch it. It’s a throw back to when I was four and in that living room with the ochre walls. The coffee you see in this pot is one hue of ochre and if you were to add just a little bit more yellow, that’s the disturbing color I am referring to.
Color is a personal taste and something that at times we can’t control for we are forced to sit in rooms or see buildings around us. But we can control it in our surroundings and I will tell you that no way, no how will I ever have any walls in my house painted “ochre:” Never have and never will. I will paint with this color for it is one that is found in nature and is always around us. I will wear it for I like the color on me but to have it envelope me in a room is disturbing and brings a pall over my feelings. And you know the two reasons as to why. Bring on the color but never bring on “ochre” in my house!
Sherry Hill
Forgot to add that houses painted ochre also bother me: Has to be a throw back to those two mentioned times.
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