Got no check books, got no banks,
Still I’d like to express my thanks—
I got the sun in the mornin’
And the moon at night.

Irvin Berlin

Your attitude affects your environment

And your environment affects your attitude. Dull, drab colors can affect your emotional state of being. I for one, need lightness and brightness. I love indoor and outdoor environments that are harmonious and filled with the energy of color.

For many people, whether the room has natural or artificial lighting or whether the brightness comes primarily from the art or the furnishings, their aesthetic resonance with the ambience of the place in which they happen to be, can have an impact on their physical and emotional well-being. Other people might feel more at home in environments that are muted, overcast and reflective of what has always felt safe and comfortable to them. It is important for us when possible, to live in home environments or work ones, which are compatible to our inner beings and world views.

Do I see what you see?

How similar are our perceptions? Interestingly, our perceptions are never entirely in the present moment but also drawn from our huge, varied range of stored past experiences and from neural activity constantly on-the-go…from a vast subconscious we do not know.

We do not see things exactly in the same way but we do see things similarly because of our humanness, often comparable family backgrounds, and socio-political influences. Yet, there are always those uniquely individual perceptions because of our combinations of unseen brain activities, pasts we subconsciously recall, and the immediate experiences of our present. We therefore look at and create our worlds from our individual perspectives – from our different points of view.

Our emotions affect the way we regard our worlds and even the intensity and brilliance of the colors we see. I call these emotions, our moodprints. In my Glimpsary of THE WORLD OF GLIMPSE, I define moodprints as “individual perceptions of brightness, influenced by emotions.” That originality of perceptions, enthusiasm, joy, love, compassion and a vast range of feelings, is synonymous with our human experiences.

Spunktaneous, in THE WORLD OF GLIMPSE, asks Perceptilly:

“Do I see gold as you do, Perceptilly?” And Perceptilly’s response is: 

Well, Spunktaneous… 

I have a Master’s Degree

In Meta-luster-cology.

I can glean a glitter from a glow.

Name all the lusters there are to know. 

But Spunktaneous, I don’t know how you see gold…or pink…or any hue. Only you know.

The colors you perceive are entirely you, and each time you look, they’re different,

Depends on your moodprint which affects the glow you give to color.

Where Our Brain & The Universe Meet

Our days vary – some being more emotionally uplifting than others, and our commensurate moods – and world views – are accordingly affected. We therefore paint our individual perceptions of the sky above us with our own emotional palettes – our own moodprints. As Paul Klee said: “Color is a place where our brain and the universe meet.”

For me, not only do I choose to live and work in light and bright environments wherever possible, but even though some of my paintings are in darker hues, I generally paint in vivid, iridescent, mood-enhancing, joyful colors. Irvin Berlin’s words, “I’ve got the sun in the mornln’/And the moon at night,” resonate with me: I love color. How about you?