Friday, June 08, 2007

The Smell of Colors

This is a bit of an odd post. I'm not sure if I am weird, or normal and other people just don't talk about this stuff like I do. Maybe you can tell me. I am walking for miles everyday to get in shape. Walking is my time to think. Sometimes I go over things that bother me and work them through, but sometimes I have weird breakthrough ideas. Yesterday, I had one such breakthrough thought.

I stepped outside into the road that is arched by trees, vines and ivys. Growing alongside the road are wildflowers and thick banks of weeds. The moment I stepped onto the lane, I could smell the smell of GREEN. I closed my eyes and sniffed. Yes, that was the exact smell of green. Later in my walk, I came to an area that had a funny smell. It smells a bit like urine actually...the smell of YELLOW. At another point, I smelled the acrid odor of old skunk...the smell of BLACK and WHITE.

I started imagining what other smells immediately link in the brain to colors. Here is what I came up with...

The smell of water-soaked hands after swimming in the lake all day. The smell of clean, cool skin, BLUE.

The smell of a warm oven with gingerbread cookies baking, BROWN.

The smell of crushed raspberries or a tomato warmed to pungency by the sun, fresh from the garden, RED.

The overwhelming smell of grape chewing gum, in all its fakeness, immediately connotes PURPLE.

What smells make you think of a color?

Or, am I just plain weird?

2 comments:

Lorraine said...

I love it. Colors may have tastes too - the other day Amelia was telling me that the trees were like avocado. She was talking color, but I thought taste too...

I've always though freshly cut grass smells like watermelon, so fresh bright green and hot pink are linked in my mind.

For me brown = fresh strong coffee

yellow = the way kids' skin smells with leftover sunscreen after a hot sunny day

gray = urban sidewalks after a big rain

Watty said...

gingerbread and pumpkins make me think burgundy and pumpkin shades....for the fall and salty outdoor smells (like cam coming in from a hot day) makes me think of like a light turquoise or aqua blue from the water

*sigh* I can't wait for those colors (and smells) of fall to come in!