Why Silhouette AF-655 Triggers Your Brain Differently
Something happens in your brain when you see deep brown. Benjamin Moore knows it. Their 2026 Color of the Year, Silhouette AF-655, is a rich espresso with charcoal undertones. It looks sophisticated. But sophistication is the surface story. Underneath, your visual cortex is processing this color differently than you might expect.
Your Brain Distinguishes Warm Colors More Precisely
Research from the National Eye Institute reveals something fascinating about how we perceive color. Humans have more distinct names for warm colors like browns, reds, and oranges than cool colors across all languages and cultures. The reason isn't linguistic. Brain activity patterns vary significantly more between light and dark warm hues than cool hues. Your propensity for distinguishing warm tones is rooted in how your brain processes color at a neurological level. Silhouette's espresso-brown composition engages these processing centers more actively than cooler alternatives. Your brain is working harder, creating more distinct neural signatures when you encounter this depth of warm tone.
Color Reaches Beyond Vision
Most people think color is purely visual. But 80 percent of our sensory impressions come from our visual system, and that visual information doesn't stay isolated in your occipital lobe. Research suggests the pituitary gland, responsible for body temperature, energy level, sleep pattern, metabolism, and sexuality, is sensitive to color stimulation. Silhouette's charcoal-espresso complexity engages multiple wavelengths simultaneously. This potentially influences the hypothalamus, a key brain region controlling hormone secretion and your body's self-regulation systems. Colors can affect your breathing, blood pressure, and even your body temperature. These are physiological responses, not aesthetic preferences.
The Shift Toward Darker Tones Makes Neurological Sense
Benjamin Moore's move from Cinnamon Slate to Silhouette represents more than trend forecasting. It reflects growing confidence in using colors that create stronger neural engagement. Brown triggers stability and grounding through ancient neurological pathways. Found most commonly in wood and earth, brown activates associations with nature that run deeper than conscious preference. For luxury spaces requiring both sophistication and psychological anchoring, Silhouette's burnt umber base taps into these evolutionary responses.
What This Means For Design
When architects and collectors choose Silhouette AF-655, they're selecting more than a paint chip. They're installing a color that creates measurable physiological responses in everyone who encounters it. The brain doesn't just see this color. It processes it through multiple pathways simultaneously, engaging visual cortex, limbic system, and potentially endocrine function. I've been exploring how art changes the physiology of the brain for decades. Color is one of the most direct tools we have for influencing neural states. Silhouette represents a cultural moment where deeper, more neurologically engaging tones are finally being recognized as sophisticated rather than heavy.
The spaces we create shape our internal states. Benjamin Moore's choice acknowledges that truth.
They Called It Pseudoscience Until We Measured It
They dismissed art therapy for decades. Then, researchers attached EEG monitors to participants. The data became impossible to ignore. I've watched the scientific community treat artistic healing practices with skepticism that borders on contempt. The demand for evidence seemed reasonable. The dismissal before investigation did not. But neuroscience finally caught up with what artists and therapists observed for generations. Brain waves don't lie.
When Subjective Experience Meets Objective Data
EEG measurements now reveal specific brain activity patterns during art creation. Different materials trigger distinct responses. Working with clay generates more delta wave activity than drawing with a pencil. Delta waves correlate with deep relaxation states. That's not interpretation. That's physiology. Research by Belkofer demonstrates significantly increased alpha and beta wave activity after painting and drawing sessions. These changes appear in both trained artists and complete beginners. Alpha waves indicate relaxed alertness. The kind of state where healing becomes possible.
The Default Mode Network Reveals Something Deeper
Here's where the neuroscience becomes fascinating. The Default Mode Network typically quiets when we engage with external tasks. It's the brain's self-referential processing center, active during introspection and identity construction. Yet aesthetic experience activates it. When someone finds visual art aesthetically moving, the DMN engages across domains. Paintings, landscapes, architecture. The network lights up in response to beauty itself, connecting aesthetic perception directly to our sense of self. This explains the profound inner response to art. It's not mystical. It's neurological architecture doing exactly what evolution designed it to do.
What This Means For How We View Healing
I create Western Cubist paintings based on biogeometric principles and quantum models because the science supports what ancient wisdom suggested. Form and proportion influence neurological states. The cultural shift I'm advocating requires this evidence. Not because art needs scientific permission to exist, but because dismissing measurable healing mechanisms costs people access to effective interventions.
When EEG technology validates that art creation changes brain wave patterns associated with relaxation and well-being, skepticism loses its foundation. The question shifts from whether art affects the brain to how we integrate this knowledge into healing practices. The answer determines whether we continue treating art as decorative luxury or recognize it as the neurological intervention the data reveals it to be. Measurement didn't create art's healing properties. It simply made denial harder to justify.
Visitors
"The rush isn't the finish line. Never has been. It's that wild, chaotic dance we do to get there. That's where the real pulse is, for me. When I lose track of hours and the world outside fades, that's when I know I'm truly alive. Time, see, it's not just ticking. It's the fuel, the currency I trade in. But it's a currency you can't hoard, can't save for a rainy day. You just spend it, pour it out, and hope you're pouring it into something that matters.
And creating? That's like inviting a stranger into your home. These ideas, these pieces, they come knocking. Some are quick visits, a flash of connection and then they're gone. Others linger, we build a rapport, we share secrets. Each one is a new relationship, and I let them in with an open heart, even knowing they won't stay forever.
When I dive into a piece, I don't hold back. It's all in, every ounce of me. That's the transaction, isn't it? My time, my energy, traded for the chance to bring something new into the world. We push and pull, the artwork and I, until it finds its own shape, its own voice. And then, there's that bittersweet moment, the goodbye.
I know, maybe it sounds intense. Maybe some think I'm a little too attached. But it's not the object, it's not the 'finished product' that fills me up. It's the journey, the shared moments. It's the conversations in the quiet hours.
"Reborn" is about ready to leave the nest. We've had some mornings together, that one and I. Coffee, quiet talks, the silent understanding that comes from creating side by side. I wouldn't trade those moments for anything.
So now I'm looking at you, whoever you are, reading this. Where are you spending your time? What are you pouring yourself into?"
Dr. Theresa Bullard
If you know me then you know. I have spent the last 3 days painting and listening to Dr. Bullard. It’s a deep dive grasping the transformative shift from classical to quantum physics. As we are learning new information weekly I am still connecting the dots back to our first language gestures and how geometry is our foundational language. Bullard ties the metaphysical mostly from the alchemy point to what we now are discovering with quantum conciseness.
All this is what drives my cubist style of triangles. I am speaking to your DNA! Ha HA… Let me speak to you…..
I am trying to think and manage a way to share what I learn but I am not a writer. Be patient.
I have my base colors down for “REBORN”. It is really exciting in my environment currently as energy is flowing into what i am doing. I have no real knowledge where it comes from but I do take responsibility to get it down visually.
Thursday is WING NITE!
Saturday was leg day
Part of my weekend birthday celebration was being abel to train legs Saturday morning with my sister Stacey. It has been a little over a year since she got it together and decided to pass me up. Training and staying fit has been a major part of my life and I am so grateful to be able to share that with my sister now.
I’ve made so many crazy choices in my life, but that’s definitely a good one.
Feeling fit is a great feeling, but also a little self-care like a kick ass style always helps too. Chris over at MX barber is the man. I wanna say he makes me feel like a king when I’m there, but I don’t know what a king feels like I know what a wolf feels like, but I’ve never been a king.
I’m going to spend the rest of the day painting on this piece called “Reborn”. I started working on some Native American concepts back in February. Reborn is the first one to come to life.
Starting a new journey
I should be clear hear, I am no writer or attempt to be close to one. I am going to be intentional about being more open. Oh boy this could be messy. I did use some AI. My prompt was “Make David super fun and cool” I am still waiting on the answer. So it’s just going to be me here.
Today is my birthday and thought this would be a fabulous milestone. I wanted to be authentic so here is something: I really think I am funny! I don’t even know why but I do. So weird right?