Aversion to Green

I have a strange aversion to green.  I know that sounds strange for an artist and for the longest time I couldn’t figure out why I don’t like green.  I won’t wear anything green but lots of women have favorite colors so no one noticed including myself.  However I refuse to have anything in my house that’s green.  It became apparent when my husband brought home a laundry basket that was green.  Sweet man, he thought he was helping but I hated it and returned it for a white one.  Later he brought home a new landline phone that was, you guessed it, green.  That’s when the fight began and I thought he should just know I don’t want anything green.  So he asked why and I couldn’t answer.  I had to go back in my memories and search for a reason.  Then recently I came upon it.  When I was a little girl my uncle owned a dark green Plymouth and would take us on a 2-hour trip to the lake almost every weekend during the summer.  We would go waterskiing, which I loved, and camp there lakeside all weekend.  But every week I would get carsick and have to have him pullover to the side of the road while I lost my breakfast.  It happened every time.  It got to where even the sight of that green car would turn my stomach… and who would guess that I still feel that way today.  The psychology of colors is a very powerful thing.  Even though I know intellectually that green isn’t sickening, I still don’t want it around me.

Painting with green isn’t a problem usually because it doesn’t sit alone.  However I resist using the dark greens unless I mix them with red to DE saturate or yellow to brighten and liven up the green.  Funny how some small event colors your whole life view.