What is Synesthesia?

Synesthesia is a neurological condition that affects 2-4% of people in which theaffected individual experiences 2 or

more senses from a single stimulus simultaneously(that increases to 8% in people in creative fields). The thing that makes it

interesting is that one of those senses is usually the “wrong” one.What, exactly, does that mean? For me, it used to mean

smelling colors: when I looked at most shades of red, for example, I would see the color and also smell red food coloring

(so, yes. Red does smell like red). When I looked at shades of blue (especially that very specific Monet blue, which I learned

from Ed Yong’s An Immense World, the artist could only see due to a degenerative eye condition that damaged his lenses)

I smelled chocolate chip cookies. Grass green smelled like oil paint - until my late 30s, I thought oil paintings off-gassed for a couple hundred years. The medium in which the color was distributed didn’t (and still doesn’t) matter: plaint, printed, digital; I smelled them, even when my back was turned and someone was shifting digital filters on me.

As most of you are probably aware, COVID-19 is notorious for altering people’s sensory perceptions, especially taste and smell.

After I had Covid the first time, which considering the other consequences I love with, and the many terrible things that

happened to others, didn’t seem like a big deal (though my family may beg to differ re: my cooking). Then, one day, I was

trying to match a color for a painting (I ran out of a mix and was trying to make more) and, suddenly, my teeth started buzzing.

Probably just sensorially, not literally, though it’s still a really weird feeling. It happened a few more times and then, one day at

my piano lesson, my teacher was asked me parse a piece of music and asked me too explain how a specific passage made

me feel; the only thing I could come up with was, “purple.” And that was when I realized that my synesthesia had come back but had shifted.

Now, instead of smelling colors, I hear them, along with shapes and textures. My brain combines all of those into complete images the I then translates into paintings and collages.

I love being able to share these mindscapes with all of you. I hope the give you a little bit of joy and add some color to your life. Visit the shop to see what I have available and if you don’t find the song you want, I’m always happy to talk commission.