Mellow yellow
"How beautiful yellow is! It stands for the sun" Vincent van Gogh
A week or so ago I did a post on sunflowers, inspired by Van Gogh's painting, which was my painting of the day. It was accompanied by the above quote - well the first part of it actually, and I mentally filed it away as a potential subject. He certainly loved yellow - it has even been claimed he ate yellow paint because he thought it would get the happiness inside him. But lots of people have rejected this, saying he ate the paint to poison himself. It's an interesting notion though, and yellow does seem to have been his favourite colour - but often in combination with blue. And those sunflowers don't look quite so yellow today because the paint he used - chrome yellow - has deteriorated to a browner shade. Yellow decays to brown in all sorts of ways.
But maybe it did make him happy - for yellow is often associated with happiness and he was not a happy man. He certainly used it a lot.
"It is the color closest to light. In its utmost purity it always implies the nature of brightness and has a cheerful, serene, gently stimulating character. Hence, experience teaches us that yellow makes a thoroughly warm and comforting impression. ... The eye is gladdened, the heart expanded and cheered, a glow seems at once to breathe toward us." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"White is too brilliant to be seen, so yellow is its filter, its costume, revealing that pure light has not only brightness but emotional resonance and depth." Richard Grossinger
My other inspiration for this post was gazing out of my window at a bush of the palest yellow broom, which is currently flowering. My granddaughter was so impressed that she picked a few stems. But it has a dark underside because it really doesn't smell very nice. Well I don't think so anyway. But she did which is interesting.
I have also been thinking about yellow, because of that quote, on my walks, and today, because of the broom I thought about it more and took a couple of photos of yellow plants - just because really and I notice I go for the paler yellow rather than the yellow which is almost orange - it's purer somehow. Calming rather than happy making.
We have had a lot of yellow outside of late with all of the wattle trees, some of which are still in flower, and I noted as I walked that lots of the weeds we see have yellow flowers - shasta daisies are everywhere at the moment, as is oxalis and dandelion. And my lovely broom is considered a weed in some parts of the country. But I also noted that yellow is also a colour of decay and sickness. Think yellow jaundice - indeed a yellowish skin (in a caucasian) may sometimes signify suntan but more often than not says you are ill. And ageing teeth go yellow too. Plants go yellow when they are decaying - think autumn leaves and any other leaf on the verge of dying. There are some in my garden now.
None of which is very happy and yet apparently yellow foods make people happy. Well that's the claim. Which they say is down to the carotenoids that are found in it and that give it its yellow colour. I suspect the scientific evidence is tenuous however, but yellow foods might make you happy simply because of their brightness and the associations with warm sunny days, the beach and fields of yellow flowers and crops.
"Yellow speaks of imagination. It is extensively used in food industries because of its familiarity. The eye notices the highly reflective yellow before it perceives any other colour thus pale yellow is an excellent choice for instant product purchase." Larry Grimm
Actually yellow is not my favourite colour - I have very few yellow clothes. It is a touch too cheery for me. And I did find it difficult to think of yellow foods. All I could think of was a banana which may be yellow on the outside but is really a cream colour (unless it's going off - when it is not tempting at all). So I looked for pictures of yellow foods and immediately felt extremely stupid because there was a whole range of foods, many of which are some of my very favourite things.
Lemons are top of the list. How could I have forgotten them? I can't do without them - always have a lot of them in my fridge - and how I wish I could grow them. Some potatoes are pretty yellow inside and out and I am addicted to potatoes. Corn has become a favourite thing to give a distinctive taste to soups and stews. Pineapple - well I do really like pineapple and I would buy more but get put off by the difficulty of getting at the fruit. But they are ridiculously cheap at the moment so I really should buy some.
Then there are all the yellow versions of vegetables and fruit that also come in other colours like capsicum - I always have some of them in the fridge, carrots - them too, but not the yellow ones which tend to be quite expensive and probably don't taste very different. Yellow beans - now they do taste a little different to green ones and I do get them sometimes but they are rarer than the green ones. I think you can get yellow beetroot and turnips, not that I like turnips and why would you anyway? Some melons are yellow inside and some pumpkin too. Yellow tomatoes are rather beautiful and becoming more common. Yellow plums and some peaches. I even found a picture of a yellow kiwi fruit but I have never seen one. Custard apples?
So yes there are lots and lots of yellow fruit and vegetables. And then there those pantry and fridge things. I must not forget saffron - that most expensive of spices which is orange but makes things yellow, and its poorer cousin turmeric which does the same for curry. And butter - how could I forget butter - and cheese? Mustard even gives its name to a particular shade of yellow and honey is often associated with yellow - perhaps it's the pollen it's made from, because I think honey is more usually a brownish orange kind of colour.
So many yellow things to eat and enjoy - and perhaps to make you happy too. Now is gold yellow or orange? For the association of yellow with gold is another reason for its importance in some cultures and for its association with happiness. Did you know, in fact that yellow (not red) is the national colour of China. "Yellow was the color of the emperor's robes and is still associated with high rank and power." But like those decaying leaves it also has darker associations - cowardice for one. Such a complicated colour when you come to look at it - fading to cream and white and green at one end and darkening to orange at the other.
Alas my broom tree has become so loaded with blossom and the rain that fell on it that one whole side of it has broken off. Thank goodness it's a weed - it will probably grow again if we cut the broken bit off.
"Yellow is also an amazing attention-getter, which is why you can see McDonald's signs from so far away." Reid Mene
Like everything it has its good and bad sides.
