Pale Yellow

I have been working at a local factory that is still in development. My job has come at the right time and seemingly at the right place too. I have already learned a huge amount and dare I say sometimes enjoyed myself!

I was offered a sensory course on food tasting run by Coleg Menai. We tried blind smell and taste tests which were really interesting and fun. One thing that I struggled with was putting words to smells and tastes. While others in the group seemed to make instant connections to words and culinary flavours, I could only see colours and shapes to describe what I was smelling. We all wrote down our answers so I was unaware of what they thought the things were. One scent I struggled with was one that I could only describe as a pale yellow in smell. I must have sounded like quite an idiot really, but other smells looked like brown geometric shapes with spikes bubbles, or a yellow-brown with grey speckles. After seeing black and white stripes, I worked out that what I was seeing could have some relation to words people use to describe things — this particular smell was liquorice. An association with Anise and Blackjacks had placed this smell’s visual memory with those black and white striped boiled sweets I hadn’t eaten for maybe 15 years.

The most amazing thing for me was the smell that resonated as a pale yellow, was in fact banana! Caramel – the brown crystalline structure, and almond was the speckled yellow-brown. Everyone experiences things differently and for me when I smell things I get a visual burst of colours and often shapes too. It came as a bit of a revelation to me that I have been seeing things like this all my life and it’s only just twigged that I experience colour through other senses than just purely visual. I have always experienced a multitude of senses from looking at art and I have realised that it is a big part of my enjoyment and experience of artworks. Clashing colours mix like clashing flavours of food do. Sometimes a contrasting colour that shouldn’t theoretically work makes and enjoyable combination of the senses. Painting is very like cooking in a lot of ways. There is usually a lot of mess involved early, and even late, in the process until everything is brought together and served in a pleasing way for the best possible enjoyment. Some people love to be challenged to eat spicier food than before, just as people enjoy the thrill of being challenged by a pice of artwork that may be difficult to digest.

I had feared that working in a factory setting would detract from my true passion, but as usual, the holistic nature of existing continues to triumph.

After moving house and setting up our lives after university, Dot and I are enjoying preparing for future exhibitions, painting and sculpting and even a little bit of gardening here and there! I think a situational update blog post is well overdue so stay tuned!