Thursday, February 12, 2009

Colour Outside

From my walkaround Kuching city the other day, I was stunned by the daring show of colours that adorned the exterior of many of Kuching's well preserved historical shophouses. Some of the shophouses were built during the White Rajah or the Brooke's era ( 19th century) but able to stand the test of time. Their makeovers in modern splashes of colours are admirable giving the street much needed lustre and appeal.
The red colour is much liked by the Chinese and as such their temples are painted 'pagoda red'.
The blood red colour of the shophouse above caught my retina in an instant and clicked it went.

The Chinese Museum at the Kuching Waterfront area in rosy pink.


One of the many uses of colour is in branding and I thought the above does well to the identity of the shophouse and the company's name.
Mention of colours I always remember Claude Monet the impressionist painter, whose paintings especially the later ones were just colours in fleeting impressions. He was a master in the choices of colours that one critic ( I cannot remember his name immediately) commented that Monet is just colours , " But what an eye!".



1 comment:

Zuzana said...

Beautiful colors, it seems that the strong fuchsia red and the pastel green are the two favorites.;))
I do not think I have ever seen a house in Denmark painted in those colors! Most houses are white or boring grey. However, on the top of the peninsula where I live, called Skagen, sometimes the houses are painted in what is called as "Skagen Yellow".;))