Today’s post is brought to you by the color yellow. Yellow has a reputation for cheerfulness and optimism—so it’s the perfect time of year to honor this upbeat color. Yellow is everywhere—yellow forsythia, yellow daffodils, yellow tulips… Yay! Spring has arrived!
Yellow made a fine showing at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia when I visited recently.
Swathes of daffodils take me back to the unforgettable flower fields in Lisse Netherlands.
The yellow fields of brilliant rapeseed in the Germany countryside are also unforgettable.
Closer to home, the fields of yellow rocket around the John C Campbell Folk School in Brasstown North Carolina are breathtaking.
It’s tempting to categorize yellow as a spring color but this cheerful color appears year-round. Daylilies, roses, sunflowers, and irises, for instance, showcase the many colors of yellow in the summer.
In the fall, yellow joins red to mark the turn of the season as the leaves turn.
But yellow isn’t only for flowers and plants. Mother Nature also uses yellow, although sparingly, on wildlife. Here are two examples of beautiful yellow birds—the American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) and the Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea).
And here are two examples of gorgeous yellow butterflies—the Cloudless Sulphur (Phoebis sennae) and the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus).
Yellow, along with red and blue, are the foundation of the traditional color wheel—add red and you have orange—add blue and you have green. It’s a powerful color with a world of possibilities.
Speaking of color wheels, have you heard of the Martian Colour Wheel? It’s an alternative to the traditional color wheel. It has a lot more colors—120 to be exact. Its foundation is 24 evenly spaced and fully adjusted hues. This color wheel, as Warren Mars its creator explains, “keeps the full brightness of all the hue exemplars in order to match the richness of colour available on our RGB screens. There are also 2 dark shades for each hue and two light tints. The result is 120 colours that cover most the gamut available on a computer screen and most colours that you can see in the real world. … The Martian Colour Wheel also NAMES every colour with a simple, recognisable, real world example!”
Here’s the yellow section from both color wheels.
A post about a specific color would not be complete without addressing the meaning of that color. According to Jacob Olesen, a world-renowned color expert who authors the website Color Meanings, “Colors play an exceptionally prominent role in our lives. They influence our thinking, inspire our decision-making, and impact our moods.” He describes yellow as “the color of happiness and optimism. Yellow is a cheerful and energetic color that brings fun and joy to the world. It makes learning easier as it affects the logical part of the brain, stimulating mentality and perception. It inspires thought and curiosity and boosts enthusiasm and confidence.”
The below vibrant yellow building, which I spotted in a popular area of Aveiro Portugal, is certainly cheerful and energetic. And judging from the number of people I saw posing for selfies in front of it, it definitely brings fun and joy to the world!
My relationship with the color yellow isn’t nearly that dramatic. I did opt to paint the walls of our previous kitchen yellow. It was bright and cheerful but, in hindsight, the yellow may have been a little too saturated.
Nowadays, I use yellow a little more carefully. Yellow, along with magenta and moss green, are the foundation of my outdoor décor. Here’s the color scheme on our curvy café chairs.
The color scheme is repeated in the pyramid trellises I made for our flower garden. There are, by the way, step-by-step instructions to make these tuteurs here on the blog at DIY Pyramid Trellis Tutorial.
I also like to use yellow in my photography—especially as an accent color to call attention to DIY projects and photo props.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this deep dive into the color yellow. It was such fun putting this post together that it may become a recurring theme.
More Info
Enjoy more springtime stories and photos in the posts:
. Charleston’s Glorious Window Boxes
. Spring Into a Garden Tour
. A Virtual Visit to Lisse
. Virtual Hanami Around Aizu
. A Virtual Stroll in Ticehurst
You may also enjoy the post Following the Yellow Arrows which features my adventure walking the Camino in Portugal.
More information about the traditional color wheel is available on The Color Wheel Company website.
Learn about the Martian Colour Wheel on the Warren Mars website.
Check out Jacob Olesen’s website Color Meanings for more insights into the power and symbolism of color.
Today’s Takeaways
1. “Colors play an exceptionally prominent role in our lives. They influence our thinking, inspire our decision-making, and impact our moods.” Jacob Olesen
2. Try focusing on a specific color and notice how it seems to appear everywhere.
3. Consider a color-themed photography challenge by taking photos of a variety of subjects in the selected color.
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