Mairlyn's Photos - June 5 2025 - Your Favourite Colour?

 

A worldwide study has revealed that blue is the most popular colour.  That's across 10 countries in four continents.  Why are there such big surveys?  Because colour influences our moods, eating habits, who we date, and more.  And the more is the world of marketing. Look at that chart!  Everything in one picture.  Well, except there's no Canada.  Oh well, who would we consider ourselves most like?  Especially these days as we steer away from the U.S.  Would it be Britain, Germany or Australia?   We're considered to have similarities with Australia - British Commonwealth, federal states, constitutional monarchies large landmasses and small population, also with open economies, strong trade ties and a focus on natural resources.  And then we're close to Britain with that shared history, Commonwealth, monarch, parliamentary systems, but we are a diverse geography and culture with an indigenous population and role in government.  Compared to Germany we are considered to be similar in terms of strong economies, generous social systems and environmental awareness.  But we have differences in culture and social customs.  Of course, Norway, Sweden and Denmark are also missing from the chart.  Maybe we're more like them. On the other hand, what is the impact?  The most popular colour is likely to be blue. It is really only when we look at the second most popular colour that the US, China and Thailand stand out as preferring green.  Poor Hong Kong, all alone with purple.     Lots of blue to be found in peeling paint and grunge.

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Dec 8 2024 - The Colour of the Year

 

It is the end of the year and the light grows low.  What better way to lift our heads than the colour of the year announcement.   And this year its name is a rich sounding Christmas dessert - Mocha Mousse.  That's Pantone's colour of the year. As its name suggests, "Mocha Mousse is a markedly warm, rich, chocolate-y hue that immediately calls to mind certain creature comforts, such as coffee and chocolate."  Descriptions ooze yummy:  "Underpinned by our desire for every day pleasures, PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse expresses a level of thoughtful indulgence. Sophisticated and lush, yet at the same time an unpretentious classic, PANTONE 17-1230 Mocha Mousse extends our perceptions of the browns from being humble and grounded to embrace aspirational and luxe."  It's highlight description:   - thoughtful indulgence - harmonious comfort - feelings of contentment  The colour palettes are then presented - they are 1. uniquely balanced, 2. floral pathways, 3. deliciousness, 4. subtle contrasts, 5. relaxed elegance.  I would have loved this job - writing these slurpy descriptions - so much fun.  Look at the colour palettes HERE.

Competition abounds in America.  There's a lot at state in having people follow your colour. Here's Benjamin Moore's  Cinnamon Slate - "A delicate mix of heathered plum and velvety brown, this nuanced colour brings a smooth familiarity to any design."  No big talk of food with Benjamin Moore.   Could they have been spying on each other or colluding? These are so similar - seem inches away in tone.  However, using them together would be a visually clash and definitely bad vibes.    So the colour of the year is supposed to predict the mood of the year.  Seems a little late in terms of prediction - all the fashion trends for Spring 2025 are already out the door. And what is the reaction?  This from the CBC article: "Not poopie brown," wrote one Instagram user in the comments section of Pantone's post announcing Mocha Mousse. "Looks like S," commented another. Another person simply uploaded a gif that said "poop." Here we are with a fundamental question: parfait dish or a toilet bowl?  Who would have guessed half full and half empty could go so far south? Looks like this holiday watercolour project is on target for the colour of the year.

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June 14 2023 - That Old Television Set

 

Isn't that so nostalgic?  It looks like a colour image from the 1960s, doesn't it? Everything sort of pinky and blue. Switching to color wasn’t as easy as flipping a switch. Jack Chertok, producer of My Favorite Martian, told Broadcasting magazine in August of 1965 that there would be problems with some of the special effects used in the series: “Many of them depend on wires which we’ve kept hidden from viewers by using black wires against a black background. Now we’ll have to use colors matching the colored backgrounds."   I seem to remember Bonanza was a very colourful show.  And that they colourized the grass and other parts of the scenery to make it vibrant.  Certainly Bonanza was called the "Color television trailblazer".  Such a long-running show, there are lots of facts about it. Alas, I didn't find any colour-painting facts. Colour TV was a vast success.  In January of 1968, TVB found that households with color television sets were watching between 40 and 70 more minutes of television on a daily basis than households with black-and-white sets Here's some peeling paint on a transport truck - it seems surreal it is so colourful.  And isn't it so curious that one can find a landscape scene somewhere in the mess of peeling paint and plastic. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Dec 7 2022 - Colour of the Year

 

The Hudson's Bay blanket has red, green, white and gold.  There is no known specific meaning to the colours. They were popular when the blankets were first produced, and are sometimes known as Queen Anne's colours, as they were favoured during her reign (1702–14).   In 1890, because other companies (including Pendleton) were making similar blankets, Hudson Bay began to label its blankets. The labels are how most collectors date the age of the blanket. If you ever spy an unlabeled, round corner blanket, scoop it up. It could date before 1890.  In the Pendleton blankets, the three, four, or five black stripes in the design indicated the value of the blanket.  And the red and green at Christmas?   The Celtics put up red and green holly.  And then it was Coca-Cola who ran those Santa Christmas ads from 1931 to 1964 with his red coat matching their red label.  The particular shades of red and green in the ads came to signify Christmas.   And Pantone's colour of the year? It was just announced, and is not a Christmas shade at all, even though it is considered a shade of red. It is Viva-Magenta 18-1750.  I don't know if it will become ingrained in our psyches the way Christmas colours are.  While it may be called a "strong shade of red",  it looks vivid pink to me.  It is meant too allude to strength, vigour, and courage.  We'll be seeing it a lot in all sorts of places.  All over the internet, in beauty and hair products, in packaging,   What I notice is that it seems to be a different colour on various websites.   "PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta mixes with a variety of hues in a series of four palettes, available to designers as inspiration to incorporate into designs via the Pantone Connect digital color platform. Pantone Connect is available as a mobile app and on the web, and as an extension app for Adobe® Creative Cloud® to make capturing, curating, and designing with Pantone Color easy and accessible. A featured Color of the Year page has all relevant color information for using PANTONE 18-1750 Viva Magenta across various physical and digital design media." Don't you enjoy the names of the colours?   Farewell to Fall - the leaves are all on the ground and out of the gutters, thanks to the visit from the eavestrough cleaning crew yesterday.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Feb 03 2022 - Blue the Most Popular Colour - Even in China!

 

Blue is the most popular and loved colour by humans - preferred by more than 35% of the world's population. And that includes China, says one headline.  The distinction YouGovAmerica makes about China is: "colors like red, yellow and green are considered to be auspicious or lucky (though the distinction between blue and green found in English is a more modern development for the Chinese language)." I assume we could do a survey of articles to find U.S. biases and how they evolved. Subtle and not so subtle references like this that separate China out from the rest of the 10 countries surveyed as somehow not part of the crowd. That's one of my anecdotal  observations as I read articles every day.     Another survey has a hilarious description of what items might be the reference points for our colour preferences.   "According to research conducted by psychologists Stephen E. Palmer and Karen Schloss over the last seven years, the answer isn’t found in our DNA. Their study, published in 2010, posits that a person’s preference for a given color can be determined by averaging out how much that person likes all of the objects they associate with that color. Your inclination for orange, for example, depends on how you feel about pumpkins and traffic cones and Cheetos, among other things; for green, it varies according to your thoughts on grass and American dollar bills and broccoli." What do you think?  How many of the 10 countries might even recognize the word Cheetos?  I hope it is few to only one. That article is available HERE. And for a tour through the most popular colours of the decades, you can look at this article from jukebox HERE.  There is a lot of blue grunge to find everywhere - a few examples below.

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Nov 16 2020 - American Thanksgiving

 

It is coming soon - American Thanksgiving.  So late in the year, it crowds into Christmas.  They have developed orange Poinsettias to accommodate this cross-over.   The other thing it has in timing that is difficult is the American election.  This sets up difficult and troublesome situations.  For example, Trump has been ruining American Thanksgiving since 2015 when a poll showed he was the politician most likely to ruin the Dinner.  The headlines about Trump and Thanksgiving in 2015, 2017 and 2019 were things like: "How to talk to Trump-Loving relatives at Thanksgiving."  During this election campaign, Trump predicted that if Biden becomes their next president, the Americans will have to bid farewell to Christmas and Thanksgiving.  That is a definite "ruin Thanksgiving" headline. On the other side of the ocean, the UK does have a sort of Thanksgiving - it seems to be November 26th this year.  Here's a quote from a website named wayenglishcourse.co.uk:  "The American thanksgiving is not celebrated in the UK because no one had to be thankful for their new land and good ocean trip." Our picture today is compensating for the diminishing colours of our landscape that November brings. It is a lovely Florida sunrise in 2016.   I wonder when we can expect the best sunrise/sunset colour here in Niagara.  Is there a time of year when it is best?  In terms of locations, Port Dalhousie and Niagara Falls have dramatic sunrises/sunsets.  One dilemma for Niagara Falls is that it has the most dramatic ones during the coldest winter weather.

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May the Month of Spring

Here we are - May 1st - the month of spring. I had a cold on the weekend, and got to wondering about all those mugs of mint and honey tea passing through the urinary system.  One every 15 minutes is what I guessed.  Is that overtime work?  To find out what I'd forgotten since grade 8 (or whichever it was) science class, I went searching through the encyclopedia of the internet. My specific question - is 4 cups of water every hour ok?  It tells me yes - that's the limit.  There are serious consequences of drinking excessive amounts of water.  The urinary system is fascinating. It removes urea from foods containing protein. Urea goes through the bloodstream to the kidneys who remove the urea and extra water. The urine travels down two thin tubes to the bladder.  Muscles are constantly at work moving the urine - every 10 to 15 seconds into the bladder.  The bladder fills up, we eliminate what's in it, and on we go. So kidneys and water became the topic for jokes today. Kidney Jokes: England doesn’t have a kidney bank.... But it has a Liverpool What did the doctor say to the patient with kidney stones? Urine trouble but it'll pass Water Jokes: My friend in Africa was complaining about the lack of drinking water in his village. So I sent him a Get Well Soon card. 9 out of 10 doctors recommend drinking water over soda Not Dr. Pepper I stopped drinking water while studying chemistry My notes say adding water decreases concentration   Here's our abstract of the day - from the Port Dalhousie Pier of boats in storage for the winter.

The Purple Mattress

Our pictures yesterday almost looked like a lavender field - the purple colour seemed like a calm colour.   It must be the case - here is -  "Purple - The World's First Comfort Tech Company Backed by Science".   "Mattress technology hasn’t really changed in over 40 years. So rather than just repurpose memory foam like everybody else, we got our hands dirty with some hardcore macromolecular science. 30 patents later, the Purple® Smart Comfort Grid™ was born. Some call it ‘game-changing’ or even ‘breakthrough innovation’. We just love helping people sleep and feel better." Do you remember that yesterday's Light Festival had over 7,000 reviews?  Today's Purple mattress claims 42,000 verified reviews and counting.  Reviews are accredited with "Side Sleeper" and "Back Sleeper".  The next page of reviews has these attributions: "Purple Pet Bed",  "Purple Pillow", "Purple Seat Cushion", "Purple Sheets", and "Purple Mattress Cover".   That's a lot of Purple  - it is a great site and fun to read the reviews -  each one says "verified".  Wouldn't it be a great job to be a "Review Verifier".  Here is the site:  https://purple.com/ca/mattresses/purple-bed Why would they choose purple for the name of their mattress?  Purple is a special colour through history - Roman magistrates, Emperors of Japan, aristocracy - it is associated with rarity, royalty, magic, mystery, and piety.  Purple is NOT violet - they both occur between red and blue, but purple is closer to red, between crimson and violet.  Purple is a combination of two spectral colours - red and blue, and there is no such thing as the "wavelength of purple light". Here are the colour charts for purple, then violet.     These two colour charts so clearly distinguish between purple and violet.  The Performing Art Centre spent most of its time in blue and violet and transitioned to purple at the end.  I went through my picture collection and put this collage together featuring purple.

We Run Ads

I have been following the Cambridge Analytica scandal and watched Congressional members interview Mark Zuckerberg.  Here is the quote that will reign forever: "Senator, we run ads" In comparison, here are the prior quotes of Mark Zuckerberg, where he envisioned a new and better world. When people are connected, we can just do some great things. They have the opportunity to get access to jobs, education, health, communications. We have the opportunity to bring the people we care about closer to us. It really makes a big difference. Mark Zuckerberg When you give everyone a voice and give people power, the system usually ends up in a really good place. So, what we view our role as, is giving people that power. Mark Zuckerberg I think that more flow of information, the ability to stay connected to more people makes people more effective as people. And I mean, that's true socially. It makes you have more fun, right. It feels better to be more connected to all these people. You have a richer life. Mark Zuckerberg These and more are at brainyquote.com  I expect today I can buy any number of t-shirts online that says:  "Senator, we run ads". Today's images are digital paintings exploring colour and shape.

Blue is Beloved

Humanity's favourite colours? It turns out that blue is the most popular colour across the board, followed by green for men and purple for women.  I expect you know the most popular colours for a car - black and white.  White is most popular for new cars.  Black, silver, gray and red 'round out the top five'. The "Crazy Christmas" stuff that people do seems remarkable.   I say crazy because the first Guinness record that displays is Canada's Jean-Guy Lacquerer who has a Santa Claus memorabilia collection of 25,104 items.  There is the largest gathering of Santa Clauses:  13,000 participants in the Guildhall Square in Derry City, Northern Ireland, in 2007. And what about the oldest Christmas tree?  Janet Parker of Chippenham, Wiltshire, UK puts 'out' the Christmas tree of her Great Aunt, purchased around 1886. It is 12 inches high so not as creepy as it first seems. There are lots of records - tallest Christmas tree, tallest floating Christmas tree, most number of lights on a tree, tallest Santa, most expensively ornamented tree, the most Christmas sweaters worn simultaneously.  It seems many people want in on Christmas fame. In terms of colour fame, there is the Guinness record for the largest human rainbow - 31,000 students and faculty in the Philippines.

Big Black City

Here are some iPhone pictures taken in the early spring in First Canadian Place in Toronto.  No one pays attention to an iPhone picture-taker, so it is the camera for candid shots in the City. What fascinates me is the reversal of backgrounds and foregrounds in our current social environment.  Instead of the background being dark and non-descript with the people standing out like jewels, it is the reverse.  Most people are dressed in black and the building walls and floors are polished marble and gleam with light and reflections.  When did this happen that the negative space - the background - the canvas took over?  What I see are shadow shapes on the canvas, and it is interesting to capture this sense.  I pursued this line of thinking and read about Gestalt Theory and Visual Perception here.  While I found it fascinating, it didn't seem to relate until the principle of 'focal points'.   "The principle of focal points likely arises out of our need to quickly identify the unknown to alert us to potential danger."  So everyone would be in dark clothes to fit in.   It is the case that the dominant colour for clothing is black.  I found this site - The Color Black.  It says that the colour black represents mystery and power and control.  Perhaps our pictures are a representation of the struggle for dominance between the individual and large-city structures.

Colour On and Off

Can you imagine if we had selective vision naturally?  Looking at these ties made me wonder what the experience would be like.  Do the images below make you wonder what colours the other ties are?

I want to selectively bring back the colour as an unfolding story.  It'll take a little time as I return the scene to its original state.  Here's the story as it starts...