I saw John Kitchener today. I knew to expect talent. I’d heard of him from various color friends.
He delivered. And now my brain is mush.
Some of it is because at some deep level, I knew he was very right. I knew I could wear golden brown even though it’s not in my Dark Winter Seasonal palette, because that color is in my eyes. I knew my colors had to be slightly hushed from the crispness of True Winter’s palette and also slightly warmed, and that this is different from DW. (Dark Winter has autumn’s warming…but no hushing. In the 12 season system, summer and winter do not, can not, influence one another.)
Another reason my brain feels fried is that John does not work with drapes. He picks up very small swatches of fabric, holds them in what feels like your general direction -not right on your face – and mutters, “Oh wow,” or, “Oh no,” or, “Mmmm, mmmm,” and very quickly assembles a book of swatches for you to take home. He is fast.
How does he do that? What must the world look like to him? His perception of color is so…evolved. I want to be in his brain, to experience that knowledge. But I wonder if it’s simply a gift, just something he can do? Or **pause** could I learn that??? Is his perception of color, in fact, actually very, very developed? A mixture of both factors, I suppose. Whatever it is, witnessing his power today as he raced through thousands(?) of color swatches, numbed me.
And then he intersperses stories in his consultation. You’re trying to follow them and take in your colors. You. Your colors. You. Your colors. Pretty soon, it’s like you – body, mind and spirit- are on the table. All those colors are you. I don’t know how to explain it any better.
It didn’t feel religious. I don’t mean to convey that. It just felt very truthful. It felt like: this is you. This is you.
And, don’t get me wrong. My DW spectrafiles brand palette made me very happy. It still does. But now I guess I feel like it’s a really, really excellent starting point. And that if you can find a color analyst of the caliber of John, then you should go see him, or her, for a truly personal palette.
I will post pics from my truly personal palette soon. And when my brain thaws a bit, I’ll write more too. Somehow the honesty of the experience has thrown me. How can color mean and do so much?
I envy you your experience with him! Getting your very own individualized color palette is like the ultimate thing. And I understand what you mean about having a seasonal color fan as a starting point. I agree.
I’m so glad I treated myself. If only culturally we all had our colors done, as a beautiful rite of passage. Then there would be more trained analysts around!
Another great post! Thank you for taking the time to create such lucid, eloquent, informative, great looking and informative blog posts. So far, I have read all your posts and I love them- top notch! I can see the value in your 12 season colour analysis and also your personal palette with John Kitchener and I find the synthesis of the two approaches to be practical and expansive. I am jealous as thus far, I have not been analyses but I am hoping that my time will come.
Katya, glad you’re enjoying my blog! It’s fun putting it together. I hope your time for a wonderful color analysis experience comes soon! Very soon!