Our lives are full of color and generally we accept color as part of our lives in a casual and nonchalant manner. But color affects us very deeply, on a physical level, an emotional and psychological level and a spiritual level. Our individual identities are largely expressed by our own personal understandings or feelings toward color. It defines our fashion sensibilities, expressed in our ability to create art, our interior and exterior environments, and can encourage or adversely affect our health and well being. Color can be erotic and sensual, calming and passive, expressive and vital. Yet what makes color work? How do we relate to color, use it in our lives, manipulate it and master it even while most people have no true understanding of what color is?

At face value color is a scientific phenomenon, measurable and definable with rules and boundaries.  But the way we experience color is personal. No color is seen the same way by any two people. Color may have different meanings to people in different cultures.

We see color because of light. However, light waves are not in themselves colored. Our perception of color arises in the human eye and brain. Each hue, or pure color, is defined by a particular light ray (a particular electromagnetic energy). The human eye perceives visible light, falling between wave lengths of 400 and 700 mill microns only. We are not able to perceive other forms of light rays, such as ultraviolet light, without the use of specially designed apparatus.

How we see color - Illustrated!