All About Colour
by Janice Linsday
You will never look at colour the same way again.
In this book Janice shares a lifetime of discoveries about why colour, something we think will be simple to use and understand, is so complex. She takes us on a journey that combines history, biology, and interior design with personal insights from years of helping others choose colour and get it right. Along the way she recounts how a yellow was once made from cow’s urine and can be used as an intellectual stimulant, how blue used to be considered light black before it gained popularity and became more expensive than gold, and how vermilion red used to look better the longer it was ground — twenty years was just about long enough.
Review by Sylvia Bennett in Feng Shui Living:
Just when I thought I knew loads about colour, I read a new book that has taught me loads more.
It took Janice Lindsay, Canada’s leading colour designer, eight years to complete ‘All About Colour’, but as far as I am concerned it has been well worth waiting for. What makes it stand apart from other colour books is the volume of verifiable scientific information and the fascinating depth of knowledge that is crammed into it, quite apart from the delightful writing style that I found both compelling and convincing.
There is seemingly endless information out there about the psychology of colour, often contradictory too. This book is very different because it hones in on the background of colour creation and its usage through many centuries, sharing well researched facts about historical origins going back to primitive man and the medieval and renaissance eras, through to the nineteenth century till today.
To give you a taster, you will gain valuable insight into how certain pigments were considered to be more valuable than gold, how yellow was once made from cow’s urine, that the most important colour of all is invisible, natural light and how our eyes are designed to respond to the colour spectrum. Find out too how colour trends evolve, why Van Gogh’s perception was that suggestive colour is a vehicle for self expression and that there is no such thing as too much colour - not the same as too colourful by the way.
Janice Lindsay’s deep understanding of colour, her insatiable appetite for discovering more about it by exploring beyond her boundaries and her passion for the subject are evident in this absorbing book. No doubt that commitment is equally well expressed through her work in her own consultancy, Pink Colour and Design. Read this book and expect to find yourself revitalized, inspired and better educated about how and why colour influences our lives and our surroundings in ways you may never have imagined.
What readers say:
I have become a big fan of All About Colour. It was a lot of fun to read and one of the most rich and exciting educational crash-courses I've ever experienced.
Thanks, Janice, for writing the book. It opened my eyes.
Rita Brooks
All About Colour totally engaged me--the history and science of color, joined with Lindsay's experience, personal voice, and evident artistry in using color in interiors is an unusual and intoxicating (for color junkies) combo. I couldn't put it down. I need my own copy; borrowing from the library simply won't do (and I'm a librarian).
Deborah Sommer
I actually shed tears at the end of the book because I felt like I was saying goodbye to a very good friend.
Shelley Scales DID, Interior Design Consultant
This book made every art history class I've every taken come alive! Janice's passion for colour and elequent conversational style causes me to pause, sip my tea and look around the room through a new and more informed lens. I've given this book to several dear friends in the past few weeks - I think I'll just buy a case and hand them out! Well done indeed.
Karen MacKay
This book is like being on a luxurious vacation with a wonderful companion who is a great conversationalist and also a great colour designer.... Following the chapters one by one is like attending a series of fascinating lectures, each full of surprises, insights and humour. The only books that I like to own are those that I want to read over and over again. I have this delightful book on my bed table.
Gwen Moncreith
Loved this book and will read it again and again.... I would recommend this book to anyone who loves colour and wants to learn lots more about it.
Annette Ayre
Personally I love this book because I can pick it up at any time and feel that I am being taken on a magical journey offering art appreciation and well researched facts. I keep this gorgeous book on my coffee table for easy access, for learning, reference and just for fun.
Design Intelligence
Well, I was completely wowed by All About Color – by all of the knowledge and great passion combined with an easy-going readability. I started reading it and couldn’t put it down! Now I have slowed down my reading and only allow myself a page or two every other night – because I don’t want it to end.
Annie Dalton, graphic and exhibit designer and color consultant
I am reading, no, devouring All About Color. It's so easy to read and hard to toss away, I am glued to its pages all the time. Thank you for writing such and amazing things on color and compiling all this information in one place.
Montaha Hidefi, Design Trend Consultant
I am an artist whose focus has been color and many passages in your book made me feel we are kindred spirits.
Jane Lincoln
I love it, love IT. I do not know how to explain how good it felt for me reading it. You know, when you read a sentence that makes you think: "that is SO true" or "I’ve never realize that before", it feels great!. Well, there were on average 3-4 of these sentences per page in that made me go: "God, that’s true, I’ve never realized it". It is a masterpiece, an eye-opening chef-d'oeuvre. I look forward to bedtime to read another chapter.
Genevieve
I loved every word. I am an instructor of Interior Design and I will highly recommend your book to my students...and probably quote it often.
Mary Cath Altobelli
I am thoroughly impressed with All About Colour. It covered the material I had expected to learn in my third-year course on colour theory. I think that if it were used as a textbook for the course in future years, it would be highly beneficial for the students and would improve the course an incredible amount.
Destiny Hendrick, art student
