My Numbers and Letters

Here is that chart of my letters and numbers that I mentioned earlier. I figured it would be a good visual for understanding what I see. There are similar charts floating around the internet but this is specifically my own.

You can see patterns in the numbers especially. Numbers with zeros in them tend to be lighter since zero is white. The 'teen' numbers tend to look neon to me. I think this has to do with the 1's in them but I'm not really sure. I used to play a game growing up where I would see a color and try to find a corresponding number with it. I would typically use this for simple street signs while on long road trips as a child but it became boring when all the numbers were the same. The numbers get more complex when you understand color mixing and warm/cool tones.

I will be posting paintings of what I see when listening to music soon. I have a few older paintings but I'll be making some newer ones soon so stay tuned for those!

A Welcoming Start

Hello all! My name is Fran Rowan and I have Synesthesia.

Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon where some of your senses will cross together. For example, in my case I can hear colors. When I listen to music, sounds, or talking I see abstract colors and shapes. This form is called 'sound to color synesthesia'. I have always had this ability but I have only known what it was called for the past few years. While living in England during high school I saw a documentary on the BBC all about Synesthesia and the different variations of it, and I was amazed to see that what I had known as my 'color game' growing up was 'Grapheme' or 'color synesthesia.'

With Grapheme/color synesthesia each number and letter of the alphabet has a corresponding color assigned to it. This number/letter and color NEVER change. The assigned colors will differ between Synesthesiacs. For example, to me the number '1' is yellow and the letter 'A' is red. In a later post I will crate a chart showing all my number/letter colors. I can also see colors when experiencing pain and other physical sensations. Apart from letters, numbers, sounds, and sensations, words also have their own colors. This is typically, at least for me, due to certain letters being 'dominant' in the word. For instance, to me 'F' is brown, so my name- Francesca, is primarily brown. The C's are yellow and show up quite strongly too. My name overall is made up of mostly warm colors. Brown, yellow, red for the A's, and orange for the N. R and E are both a dark blue and don't show up when I see or hear my name. Learning more about it and seeing that other people had it opened my eyes to what a gift it is to me. So I have decided to share my gift.

My plan is to start working on small scale paintings of songs that I listen to that activate my Synesthesia. I will also use this blog to show examples of what I see and experience with my Synesthesia.

Here are a few links to learn more about Synesthesia in general:

Wiki Page

The Synesthesia Battery

Information on the BBC documentary