Traveling to Germany and not knowing German, I wondered how easy it would be to read the signs and get around. I laughed when I saw this sign my first day in Heidenheim, Germany. The language of color spoken internationally! Photo credit: ©Cristina Acosta

Color communicates. Any color expert, designer or artist will agree with that statement. But ask those creative types what exactly a color is communicating and the answers you get may have surprisingly little in common.

Here’s why: Color is a language that continually evolves with the cultures that contribute the shades and tones of meaning each of us sees. And, each individual brings their personal biases and perceptions to the mix, further complicating things.

Yes, you can open most any home decor magazine and read at least one color experts’ opinion based on a study about the calming effects of green – or beige – or . . . whatever the next color may be. But the truth is, the focus group that decides green is calming one year, may decide that mauve is calming next year. And, one more thing to keep in mind,  the experience of an individual and the particular mix of individuals in a focus group is always changing.

Consequently, the meaning of a color is a moving target. One person’s irritating red is another person’s energizing red. It’s all about time and place, people and perception.

So what do you do with this information when you’re standing in the paint store looking for an idea or some advice? Here’s a few tips:

• The first thing to do is to choose a group of colors you love that you think might work for the project. For example – If you’re choosing exterior home colors and are looking for 3 colors, pick at least a dozen that you think will work.

• Then (ideally, take some time with this step) clip the color samples into individual pieces and spread them on the table. Start choosing your favorites.

• When you’ve narrowed it down to at least 4 choices, THEN start choosing where the colors go. Such as this color for the body, this for the trim, this for the gable trim, etc.

Remember that when you are choosing colors, you are bringing a lifetime of experience to the process. Respect that first with a little exploration, then listen to the advice you get from friends and professionals. You’ll have a better feel for the color choices that are right for you.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Walking through the streets of Bordeaux, France I saw these beautiful faded purple doors. Against the grays and browns of the buildings and the weather that day, the violet color brought a subtle and rich dimension to the street view. Photo: Cristina Acosta

Inspired by the colors in the landscape of urban city streets I've been exploring the colors by painting textiles. The sheer matte quality of the silk is the perfect substrate to convey the feeling of the colors from the street in Bordeaux, France. My intent was not to replicate the colors visually as much as to convey the sensations I received while walking through the colors in that landscape. Photo credit: Cristina Acosta

I’ve been thinking a lot about color and culture, and have been exploring that theme in my fine art for many years.

The landscape around us effects how we perceive color. The geography of a place along with the cycle of seasons as well as the weather and light  combine with the presence or absence of human culture to create the colors of a place.

In my  paintings and drawings other concerns (like image or texture) overtake this concept, so I decided to work with these color ideas in textiles.

Painting silk scarves for myself or friends is a relaxing way for me to play with color stories.  (And I have something fun to wear when I’m done!) This week I painted this silk scarf directly from the inspiration of some recent travels. I’ve been fortunate to be able to travel with my teenage daughter, Isabella Barna during her fencing competition season. She competed in a few fencing World Cups, so we both enjoyed traveling to both small and large towns in Europe for the events.

The many changes in landscape I’ve experienced this year contrast in my mind, mixing with the sensations of place. Each memory has a different palette of colors and values. Playing with these memories and translating them to visual ideas allows me to re-live the sensations of the memories as I create visual structure around them. It’s sort of like selecting photos for a scrapbook page, I select among the thoughts and feelings of memory for the creative expression.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Synesthesia is a condition in the brain processes that describes when the brain  mixes up the senses – taste, touch, smell, hearing and vision so that the person with synesthesia may experience a taste as a shape (for example) or a number as a color.

Though modern scientists first documented synesthesia in the 1880′s it wasn’t until recently with the aid of brain scans and other technology, that science has found a way to ascertain that synesthesia is not just a gift for metaphor, but is an actual brain condition.

In the article, Hearing Color, Tasting Shapes, by Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Edward M. Hubbard, published by Scientific American, the authors discuss the phenonmenon of synesthesia and explain the possible reasons for the condition.

“Our insights into the neurological basis of synesthesia could help explain some of the creativity of painters, poets and novelists. According to one study, the condition is seven times as common in creative people as in the general population. . . . In addition to clarifying why artists might be prone to experiencing synesthesia, our research suggests that we all have some capacity for it and that this trait may have set the stage for the evolution of abstraction–an ability at which humans excel.”

Blue and yellow together create green. In this progression of colors from the master bedroom wall through the bathroom, blue and gold give the sensation of cradling the green. It's a comforting yet interesting arrangement of color.

When I walk through a client’s home, the colors, shapes and textures speak to me kinesthetically  as well as visually. And sometimes I get the sensation of a taste or sound, depending upon how the colors in the room interact. I never gave much thought to this ability until I read Ramachandran and Hubbard’s work. Then a way of experiencing the world that I had considered a personal idiosyncrasy  was suddenly something with a name that I now know is experienced by others.

When science “proves” something that artists have been perceiving, the necessity of the arts in education is even more apparent to me. People who have neurological wiring that gives them problems or  idiosyncrasies  such as dyslexia or synesthesia don’t often fit into the standard learning and teaching styles enforced in the average school. Including the arts in school curriculum allows these people to succeed and flourish and maybe someday, even become artists of one kind or another.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Cross of marigold petals adorns this grave in the cemetery in the town of Ocotopec, Mexico. I took this photo with the scent of copal incense threading through the air in smokey streaks mixing with the sounds of mariachi musicians. Yellow flowers are for the mature souls of adults.

The mystery of life and death and spirit, the reality of change and the beauty of everything is a defining aspect of Mexican culture. Throughout Mexico and most anywhere a significant number of Mexican-Americans live, altars adorn public & private spaces. This spirituality with ancient roots is most visible during the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festival  November 1st and 2nd.

Dia de los Muertos  (the Day of the Dead) is celebrated in Mexico and by Mexican Americans living in the U.S. As a holy day it is connected to the Catholic holy day All Saints’ Day, but is actually much older and pre-dates the Aztec. The celebration is spread through various other countries in Central and South America.

I saw this woman in the market in Cuernavaca. She carries the flowers for Dia de los Muertos altars. White is for the souls of deceased children.

Through the month of October, people prepare for Dia de los Muertos by preparing altars (ofrendas) to honor the dead. Depending upon the family or community traditions, altars can be elaborate rooms with effigies of the deceased surrounded by beauty, food and candles, or simple altars with a picture and a few items.

Brilliant colors and stark value contrasts between dark and light with the addition of warm earthen tones make up the complex palette of colors associated the Mexican Celebration of Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead). Not only are these colors seen among the flowers and decorations that make up the various ofrendas  (altars), foods and decor that are part of the celebration, the colors metaphorically and symbolically mirror the mystical underpinnings of the Dia de los Muertos celebration.

Because the veil between the living and the spirit world thins at this time of year, the colors of the Hispanic celebration of the Day of the Dead are both strong in hue and in contrast. Bridging those

Images of bones emerge from the warm skintone browns of this traditional Day of the Dead bread proffered by a street vendor in Ocotopec. Called Pan de Muerte (Bread of the Dead), the bread is sweet without being overwhelmingly rich.

strong colors and values is the warm brown color of pan de muerte, the traditional bread of Dia de los Muertos. Motifs of crossed bones emerge from small loaves the warm color of brown skin. What a beautiful metaphor and visual symbol of the ephemeral quality of life expressed through color meanings and symbology.

I didn’t grow up with the actual Dia de los Muertos celebration. Instead, when I was under the age of 10 my family celebrated a unique combination of All Saints Day and Halloween with a piñata (a Mexican tradition of a paper effigy of an animal or object that is stuffed with candy and then destroyed by children to release the treats). It was the type of culturally morphed celebration that fit into the surrounding neighborhood of Palos Verdes, California during the 60′s and 70′s.

Since then I’ve explored how the holiday is celebrated in Mexico and incorporated some of those ideas into my personal life. Being that I love making retablos (altars) with images of the divine feminine, such as the Guadalupe and Conquistadora, and have those retablos all over my house, decorating an altar for the season comes naturally.

For me personally, the time of Dia de los Muertos begins in October and continues to about mid-November. This is a beautiful season and  a time that I  specifically ask my ancestors and deceased friends and relatives to visit me with their gifts of wisdom and love. I usually get some sort of revelation or enriching experience during this time that especially helps me for the ensuing year.

Here are some guidelines to the symbolism of the items on a Dia de los Muertos ofrenda (altar):

Composition of a Dia de los Muertos Ofrenda (altar of offerings):

• Water – Source of Life
• Salt – Purification
  

  An effigy of the deceased (in photo) made of loofas draped in her clothing is the centerpiece of this huge ofrenda (altar) taking up an entire bedroom. I visited this home in Ocotopec and the family allowed this photo. Note the beauty and care put into every aspect of the decorations and offerings.

• Candle or light – Eternal love
• Copal or incense Offering to the gods -  Transmits prayers
• Flowers — the yellow flowers represent the sun, wealth and light to help souls find their way. The white flowers represent purity and often represent children.
• Mat, bed, table — a symbolic place of rest for souls. This is often the surface on which the altar rests.
• Toys — for young souls.
• Bread, tamales — sustenance
• The neck and the canes (bones) in the form of a wheel — this is the symbol on the Pan de Muerto, the traditional bread for Dia de los Muertos
• Items that pleased the deceased person and usually a photo, sometimes an effigy draped in
  

  Candy skulls made of sugar or chocolate are traditional food items for the Dia de los Muertos altar. I took this photo detail of the food offering at a public ofrenda (altar) in Tpotzlan, Mexico.

  the deceased’s clothing.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

The gold paint color reminds me of the sand of the beach near my childhood home. The addition of blue and green create a graphic triad of landscape colors in this stairwell area.

Visualize “fire engine red” and the color red rushes to mind with or without a vision of the wheels. It’s the same for “grass green”, “sky blue” or “chocolate brown”. Seeing color is such a natural condition that we often don’t question why we see colors and we presume that everybody sees the same colors.

Though most of us do see the same colors, some people can’t. Men (about 5-8% and about 1% in women) with congenital color-blindness may not even know the exact extent of their color blindness until professionally tested. And seeing the same colors is no guarantee towards agreement.

When I was a painting student in art school my professor asked me to randomly choose “Coca-Cola red” from a group of red color chips. I confidently picked a red, sure that it matched my memory of the color. When the professor produced a bottle of Coke and had me put my sample up to the logo, I was surprised to find my choice, though close, was not completely accurate.

Since then, decades of working with color and honing my color sense have increased my understanding of how precise the eye can be. For years I’ve mixed color as an artist, continually refining my experience with both the components of a color and how it appears next to other colors. I’ve also realized that my memories of  colors are only broadly accurate.

The color of the beach sand near my childhood home in Playa del Rey, California, is golder to me in my memories than the actual vial of sand from that beach that I collected for a keepsake. That’s because the expanse of sand and the light of the day make the color experience.

So, when I incorporated the gold of the sand into my home interior design color plan I went with the color that best bridged my color memories, the vial of beach sand  and the reality of my living room walls. I compromised between the color I held in my mind and what my  brain and eyes were telling me.

Learning about the neuroscience behind how the brain and the eyes  see color is the topic of Mark Changizi’s book,  The Vision Revolution. It’s a wonderful book from a man who describes himself as a  “theoretical neuroscientist”. Even if your interest in color is currently limited to what color to paint your living room accent wall, you’ll find that Changizi’s book will inform and enlighten your understanding of how the mind works and that how you physiologically perceive color affects your entire life.

www.CristinaAcosta.com Note: I have an affiliate arrangement with Amazon.com. Clicking on the icon for Changizi’s book and purchasing it through this link will result in a small financial support of this blog.

White comes in many colors from warm beige whites to cool blue whites.

Crisp and fresh or harsh and sterile, a laundry line of contradictory meanings flap around the color white. How we understand color is based on who and where we are. And the meaning color has for us can change along with changes in our lives and our location. White on a tropical island is a very different experience from  white (as snow) covering a northern winter landscape.

I was looking at the color white  last week and realized that for me, white had became a symbol of global interconnection. How did a color I see every day suddenly have a new meaning? Here’s what happened.

Last week an early season snow of over 5 inches fell around my home in Oregon. As the snow piled up (and the shock wore off!) I noticed a strange thing about the color of the snow. It was tinged a warm white. At first the warm white color of the snow wasn’t noticeable, but as the layer of stained snow thickened, it was obvious that something unusual had happened.

Poking my fingers into the top layer of snow, I could remove that soil tinged beige layer of snow to reveal the cold blue-white layer of snow beneath that had fallen earlier as part of the same storm. It was a beautiful contrast of whites.

The next day the news reported that a dust storm in the neighboring state of Washington near Moses Lake over 300 miles away from my  home in Bend, Oregon had tinged the snowfall with the warm red topsoil from Eastern Washington farm lands.

Mother Nature was giving us a lesson in whites along with a reminder that the borders we humans put around our cities, states, territories and countries are invisible to her. During those moments I spent looking at the subtly colored layers of white snow, white became my new “green”.

The idea of white as a unifying color isn’t new. The color white is regularly used in home decor as an interior or exterior paint trim color that repeats often enough around a home that it unifies a variety of other colors. White is so popular in architecture that some paint companies such as Benjamin Moore, Pittsburgh Paints and Sherwin Williams have over one hundred whites in their paint lines to choose from.

White is everywhere from underwear to outerwear. It’s in most everybody’s closet and has been for decades. White dress shirts have been a mainstay of men’s business fashion for over a century. From baby diapers to bed sheets, the color white in some variation is one color I would bet most people on the planet have. Billions of people and the color white. The meanings will keep on.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Slight variations of warm taupe grays and cool blue grays aren't enough to make this "design" interesting. The monochromatic color use of the color gray along with the subtle differences in size and shape of the stones is so visually "quiet" it's boring.

Good design snakes our attention. Here’s why. Looking at too much of the same thing can turn a good thing into nothing you’d notice or want to look at. Too much of the same thing sends our brain to sleep. Maybe not literally, but our attention drifts and we’re on to the next thing.

Our human brains are on the alert for differences. That alertness informs us when the forest we’re walking through isn’t just grass and trees, but now includes a snake.

Good design of all types, including home interior design is about moving the eye, mind and body throughout the work. Whether that work is architectural, a photograph, painting or product, when the viewer is engaged, the work is a success. That doesn’t mean that good design appeals equally to everyone. That’s not possible. Despite that, there are general concepts or tools that designers and artists of all types use.

One of those tools is the balance of design repetition to variation. A good designer creates work that has enough of the same thing – repetition of design elements, along with enough differences – variation of design elements, to keep the eye and brain engaged in the way they want it engaged.

Too much repetition and something is so visually quiet, the brain can’t find stimulation and looses interest. Too little repetition and the work lacks stability. The brain gets overwhelmed by the lack of visual cohesion and looses interest. Bringing variation into the design mix is a balancing act that the designer or artist works with to create the “right” amount of viewer engagement.

Though the colors of the snake are similar to the gravel, the shape and texture of the snake instantly gets the brain's attention. Then the brain notices the slight variations in color. By then, I've run in the opposite direction. My brain was certainly awake and my attention engaged.

Because these design concepts can seem complex to understand, I’ve illustrated them with some photos I took in a driveway. Walking across a long gray graveled driveway several times, my mind was focused on anything but the steps I was taking. Then I saw the snake. All of the sameness was out of my brain in a nano-second. Even though the “variation” (the shape and slight color change of the snake) was a very small amount of the experience visually, it was more than enough to get my attention.

I like to think about the concept of balancing repetition with variation and how it exists in the world, both in nature and in human design. I first wrote about this in my book, Paint Happy and I’ve continued to be fascinated by how this design concept is so important in every facet of the arts, including music, theater and dance.

So, next time you’re choosing colors, designing, or making art, remember the snake. Your brain will thank you.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Unexpected combinations of color create beautiful views, like this set of doorways I quickly shot outside a restaurant in Oaxaca, Mexico

You may not know this, but you were covered in color symbolism, meanings and psychology from the day you saw your first pink or blue baby blanket.

Scientists, religions, governments, mystics and artists have always assigned meaning to colors over the centuries of human kind and there’s no way to get away from those meanings. Regardless of the culture you’re from you’ve been steeped in color symbolism.

How those color meanings translate for you depends upon when and where you were born as well as your gender, socio-economic status, the perception of your race and culture within the larger population, as well as your personal thoughts, beliefs and experiences.

That can be a lot of baggage for a color to carry. No wonder there are so many experts trying to decipher the language of color and meaning. The first big breakthrough in the color world was in 1670 when Issac Newton invented the colour wheel. The color wheel is based on his studies of optics and his observation that a prism breaks white light into the variety of colors we see in the visible spectrum.

The study of light and color captured scientists and artists for centuries, culminating in the perfect marriage of science and technology in the late 1800′s when the paint tube was invented.

With the invention of the paint tube, artists could venture into nature and paint the effects of light and color with an immediacy that shocked the art world. Artists now called Impressionists became masters of the retinal sensations of color. Monet, Seurat, Pissaro, and others led a visual revolution of color that seeped from the halls of science to stain artist’s canvases across Europe and then the world.

Within only a few years the Impressionists splintered into a variety of off-shoots including Post-Impressionists, Symbolists, Expressionists, and more. During the ensuing 120+ years the science and art of color and light has become tremendously refined.

With the rise of large corporations and the profession of marketing, there are new players creating color meaning. These companies hire color experts to suggest color schemes that will sell their goods and services to their target demographic of customers. Psychologists, scientists and technicians create tests and scenarios to determine and then predict the effects of color on a variety of human actions from how much and/or how fast a person eats to whether they linger over one color of computer screen longer than another.

Still, the Rosetta Stone of the language of color has eluded everyone. It seems that color meaning, with it’s attendant symbolism and psychology is a moving target. I love that alongside the inroads of science, the mystical and intuitive are integral to beautiful color use.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Note: Hire me to create your commercial, residential and institutional color projects.

This straw gold paint color and desert rose tone echo the natural tones in the rock work of this rustic hacienda style home. The rose color was one of the woman's favorites and the gold color was a favorite of both spouses. Together, in this style of home, the colors are unexpected and fabulous.

(A version of this article was originally published in Latina Style magazine in my home decor column “Su Casa” – Your Home)

“¡Ayudeme por favor! (Help me please!) My husband and I have completely different ideas when it comes to decorating our home.  I love bright vibrant colors like deep red and citron lime. His favorite colors are beige, brown and white.  We haven’t been able to agree and we’ve hardly fought about anything until now. Do you have any ideas that’ll help us figure out a color scheme we’ll both love?”
M.E. Salazar

The colors you see in your home reflect the choices you both make to define your life together. Because you both care enough about color to fight over it, make the time to choose your color scheme together.

Don’t fall into the trap of first choosing paint and decor colors for both of you and then bring the choices to him for his approval – you’ll only end up in a power struggle.  Giving the partner who doesn’t do any of the work veto power over the other’s color choices is a sure-fire way to get into another fight or end in a frustrating standstill.

Use this disagreement over your home decor as a way to reach a new level of understanding in your marriage.  Here are a few ground rules to start – add any others as needed:

1. Don’t be mean when you criticize any color or decor choices (including your own). You can say no to a color without getting personal.
2. Say things you would be comfortable hearing.
3. Remember that you love each other.  Compromise is necessary for a new beginning.

Try these tips to choose your colors together:

Begin by working together to collect swatches or examples of favorite colors.  Go through your closet together and collect piles of clothing colors you love. You might be surprised to find that your favorite color of faded blue jean is really more blue-gray than bright blue.  When you spot a great color combination, like his natural linen trousers paired with your soft turquoise blue shirt, take note. Move your separate piles of clothing out of the closet and set them aside.

Keep an open mind as you walk around the house and collect other objects that have colors you adore.  Don’t limit yourself to the assortment of colors in a few pictures or throw pillows.  Open the kitchen cupboards. You may love the deep, rich brown of your favorite blend of café or the amber gleam of a cup of brewed tea.

When you feel like you’ve collected enough samples, sit down together and look at the collection of items.  Take turns choosing a favorite color from your own pile and then a color you like (or can at least live with) from his pile.  You may both be surprised with the color combinations you discover you like.

Remember his favorite linen trousers? Team that soft taupe color of linen with the deep red of your favorite dress and you’re on your way to a great color scheme in the living room – taupe ceiling and walls with a red accent wall.  Pair the cocoa powder brown color of his beloved old leather coat with the soft pinks of your best lingerie and you now have a sexy, warm color scheme for the bedroom.

Paint the trim throughout your home a soft white or beige he likes that complements the colors you enjoy and it will unify the variety of colors you choose in every room of your home.

When you choose your colors together the home you create represents the life you create together.

Note: Color consultant Cristina Acosta is available for your residential, commercial or institutional project. www.CristinaAcosta.com

Playful young boy selling colorful wood and corn beads in Oaxaca, Mexico

It’s easy to stereotype a culture with a particular color palette, and Hispanic cultures, like Mexico are often seen by Northern neighbors through a lens  saturated with color. The tint of that lens, saturated with stereotypes can limit the perceptions within one’s gaze. It’s not always a bad thing. A stereotype exists because it identifies a characteristic, sometimes with a negative view and sometimes with a positive view. The problem with stereotypes happens when the stereotype overrides reality.

Mexico, Oaxaca city street scene is an example of natural stone colors mixed with painted vibrant colors. Note how this photo has colors similar to the beads the young boy is holding over his face.

The irony for me being an acculturated Latina born in Los Angeles is that I know that though Anglos from many cultures have representative crafts saturated with color, like Polish paper-cuts or Scandinavian tole painting, American Anglos will often focus on the colorful aspects of Mexican American visual culture while ignoring most of the subtle colors that are part of the same mix.

During the late 1990′s and early 2000′s when I was actively promoting my licensed line of signature home decor design, I was often  perplexed and baffled when potential clients would turn down my line with comments  that the colors were too bright. Especially when these same manufacturing companies were already heavily promoting the work of Anglo artists renowned for bright colors such as Laurel Birch, Susan Sargent and Mary Engelbreit.

Sweets offered by a Oaxacan street vendor display a variety of rich natural colors.

To this day, there are no Latina visual artists licensing their decor lines at the supported level of acceptance any of the above Anglo artists have achieved. Though I knocked on that licensing door and for a brief time thought I’d been invited in, I never was successful in my  licensing efforts at the time.

Though there is always someone who may claim sour grapes, I heard too many negative comments from manufacturers during that time that my colors and the style of my color use was  too particular to or representative of my Latino culture. The implied meaning was that the work would not sell. This happened despite an almost decade long successful national run of my imagery and design with my ceramc tile business.  A run that included years of free editorial coverage by mainstream mid-tier home decor magazines such as Better Homes & Garden’s Special Interest Publications and other periodicals.

The stone facade of this church in Oaxaca, Mexico, displays the variety of earthy tones similar to the street vendors tray of sweets.

With the perception of hindsight, I realize that what I was up against was a stereotype and a perception that I couldn’t vanquish. Though it seems so obvious to me now, at the time I never expected that  colors I painted with along with the link to my Spanish name would be inexorably linked with my Hispanic heritage in such a limiting fashion. Until then, I really thought that my talent and hard work spoke for itself.

When it finally hit me that my Latino heritage was the “elephant in the room” during my licensing negotiations, I redid my website and my marketing efforts, bringing the discussion of my Hispanic heritage front and center. I was frustrated that my art and the color stories I presented were only seen through the context created by stereotypes my potential clients could not seem to overcome.

During the ensuing years I’ve thought a lot about my experience with stereotypes and still haven’t found a simple or elegantly concise answer. What I know to be true is that the context my art and design were seen in by the manufacturers considering my line not only trumped content, it was a lens that obscured any content that didn’t echo their context. Why that context exists is a product of at least 150 years (the end of the Mexican War) of intercultural perceptions that have defined the U.S. and the complex relationship in U.S. society with Hispanic minority cultures. It’s a mindset that was too much for me to overcome.

For decades, American advertising that referred to Hispanics  in the U.S. has focused on the aspects of bright color within the Latino or Hispanic cultures without a nod to the rest of the colors present in the cultural environment. And like all humans, what we believe or have been prepared to believe is usually what we perceive to be true despite contradictory evidence.

I’ve included photos from a trip I took to Oaxaca to illustrate how opposite color palettes that are both bright or subtle can be culturally accurate. I chose photos from Mexico to illustrate the visual color concepts that are often associated with Mexican-Americans as well as other Hispanic cultures from other regions by the majority culture in the U.S.

You’ll see when you look at these photos that color schemes exist that are not always what we expect and where we expect to see them. Though I am asking you to look at the colors within a photograph, I am also asking you to look beyond  preconceptions you may have about Hispanic color palettes. Looking consciously is the first step to seeing clearly.

When we don’t acknowledge those things that exist just because we don’t want them to be there, we limit ourselves as a society. This is true whether you talking about politics, business or color. Everything is woven into our patterns of perception. Stereotypes are only a shorthand to perception, they don’t engender the clarity necessary for an inclusive society. And part of an inclusive society is visual representation at all levels.

Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month is an opportunity to celebrate the beauties and gifts that are part of our country’s  heritage  as well as to acknowledge the mosaic of cultures that make up all of the U.S. During these trying times of environmental, political and economic upheaval it is more important than ever that we work together as a nation to create the best future possible for our progeny.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Note: Cristina Acosta is a color consultant working for a variety of clients – residential, commercial and institutional. Hire her for your color expert.