Days of the Week 

“Days of the Week”, Acrylic on Paper, 10”x14”, 2022

I’ve heard this type of synesthesia referred to as sequence-space or time-space synesthesia. Usually synesthetes experience this as units of time existing in space as color shapes around the body. My experience is somewhat like this, but really only when thinking about months or larger sequences of time. Days of the week for example seem to occur similar to the way I perceive numbers or letters (grapheme-color synesthesia). There is a sequence of color which occurs in space, but I perceive this space as just above my head and white like the kind of white void you might see in commercials. It’s the stage where the colors appear and it’s right above my eyebrow, just out of physical sight. 


I perceive time as moving right to left. The way a calendar is typically laid out feels awkward to me. When thinking about a week’s time, Monday should be all the way to the right and Sunday at the opposite left. The week also has varying elevation. The weekend is bigger or higher up than the rest of the week. Friday is right on that incline and appears at both elevations. Friday also has two drastic colors that converge through a gradient. It’s the day that feels like two days. Saturday and Sunday are similar though more subtly. Saturday as a day feels blue while the evening or the concept of “weekend” feels black. Sunday is silent and grey as Morrissey would say, more neutral in the beginning and gaining a bluish tone heading toward the end of the weekend. 


The colors proceed as so (using Liquitrex Acrylic paint for a palette): 


Monday = Naphthol red light + Cadmium red medium

Tuesday = Cerulean blue hue + a small amount of Cobalt Blue Hue

Wednesday = Medium Magenta + Titanium White 

Thursday = Vivid Lime Green

Friday = a gradient from Unbleached Titanium to Ivory Black

Saturday = Cobalt Blue Hue + Prussian blue hue fading to Ivory Black (sometimes Payne’s Grey and Indanthrene work great here)

Sunday = Neutral Grey 5 + Titanium White transitioning to a blue tint of Prussian Blue Hue and Titanium White 


I use this sequence frequently in painting to mark the time from day to day. A column of color with vivid lime green at the very bottom would indicate a series of events occurring on a Thursday.