Fengshui's Five Elements for your Home

Feng Shui's five elements are interesting to identify and to work twith, you are probably already doing so. Have you stepped into an office building and felt awful? Too much white with too many shiny, metal surfaces? Observation: too much mental element.

Or did you get cabin fever in a 360 degree wooden holiday chalet and you felt like you had hibernated for too long and you were ready to sink your teeth into a new ambitious project? Too much wood element.

Did you stay sleepless in a rented holiday cottage that had a very red sleeping room that energized you instead of helped you to sleep? Too much fire element.

We know the elements and we know we need to harmoniously add and arrange them in our lives. Too much of one is not good, but neither is too little.

Let us have a look at the elements in more detail.

WATER ELEMENT

I have drawn a circular lotus pond that offers a surprising interpretation of Feng Shui's water element. Water moves, it flows, and it makes plants grow. It is full of energy, sometimes wild energy and sometimes calm. We love swimming in calm water or sitting near a pond; water calms us. It slows us down and refreshes us. Put a pool in your garden and within minutes, children seem to burst with energy and joy. Adults feel spiritual nourished being able to meditate near water and artists feel inspired by dwelling near a pond or lake. It is as if the depths of lakes are filled with mysteries and inspiration that should be explored.

To visualize your home with Feng Shui's water element, put a fish bowl, a mirror, vintage or antique glassware or translucent gemstones. A bowl filled with water with floating roses or lilies is a beautiful expression of Feng Shui's water element.

Water element's colours are Black, Helioblue, Cobalt Turquoise, Cobalt Turquoise, Cobalt Green, Bluish Turquoise, Ultramarine, Indigo Ultramarine, and Light Blue, and its shape is wavy.

EARTH ELEMENT

I have painted an earth element composition with an old clay vase, an old stone wall, a landscape cut-through showing earth's layers, tree roots, stones, and two burrowing rabbits. This is a solid dense painting showing different aspects of this wonderful element. It shows what we have done with earth (soil), like making pottery and building walls, houses, and monuments since prehistoric times. Earth provides us, it grounds us too. It makes us feel calm and good. We like gardening because we get our hands into soil and we like the dirt on our hands. Somehow this reassures and decompresses us from our hectic, modern life.

Feng Shui advises to bring in some earth elements into our sleeping rooms; use soft ocher (earth) colours, or decorate our bedroom with Zen-like stacked stones. It might help to slow down, to ease stress and sleep deep, like the burrowing bunnies do in my painting.

Gaia or Mother Earth is known to us all in many ways. We will return to earth: ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Earth is our mother and it feels good to be surrounded by colours and objects of reminders of what Feng Shui sees as representations of earth element. Earth provides us with food, shelters inside her (caves) and defends us with her stone walls, heals us with food that grows in her. Mother Earth is good to us, much better than we to her.

Earth element's colours are Ocher Jaune, Ocher Brun, Ocher Brúlée, Ocher Dark Naples, Raw Umber, Sanguine, Light Yellow Ocher, and Burnt Ocher. Its shape is square.

FIRE ELEMENT

What else is Feng Shui's fire element other than fire? That was the problem that I faced because a painting of fire would never be more interesting than a fireplace or burning candles. Pondering over this, a field with bright red tulips with a blazing sun in the background came to my mind. My fire element thus shows flames of fire but at its heart tulips with the colours of fire. This composition captures many things Feng Shui attributes to the element of fire: red hues, fierce expression, passion. This high-octane painting has no calming or grounding effect. On the contrary, all that red makes you run outside to enjoy the high energy of summer. Yet, it does not burn. It sends out a message of energy and glow due to all that red, yellow, magenta and pink, but a fire element should never consume you.

Fire element's colours are Middle Cadmium Red, Cadmium Orange, Madder Red, Middle Cadmium Red, Light Violet, and Dark Cadmium Orange, and its shape is triangular.

METAL ELEMENT

This element is -next to Earth element- my favourite but it was hard to find a nice expression of it. How to draw iron, gold, silver? I set out to combine different metals in a tea-drinking still life with white washed cups with a golden brim, and shiny metal teapot. It reminds you to drink your tea whilst working ambitiously at your project. (Ambition being a characteristic of this element like passion is to the Fire element).

To vitalize your work room with Feng Shui's metal element, use white washed objects and modern metal work, add a shiny mirror, pen holder, or tea cups.

This still-life is without clutter, like your mind should be when you are working. But do not feel inhibited by Feng Shui's guidelines. In the end, Feng Shui is about your relation with your direct environment. Like I set out to paint a tea drinking still life, you might add other metal elements to your home, room, or desk.

Metal element's colours are Cold Grey, White, Silver, Gold, Bronze, Copper and its shape is round.

WOOD ELEMENT

Last but certainly not least one of my favourite elements: wood. A circular wood element composition shows three branches and a cut-through, showing its annual growth rings. Counting the growth rings of a tree is a way to tell how old a tree is. The bleached branches are ageless, whether they are driftwood or bleached by the sun.

Wood element symbolizes new beginnings (new leaves!), new relations, a new family, wealth (oxygen!). The Wood element stands for a new house (that we used to build with wood), but we also build ships with wood for exploring new horizons. Bridges, shelters, furniture, vitality and support, all represent wood element.

This painting is down with many brown and green earth's pigments. Both colours belong to the wood element. My sketches were made on paper with pencils, both made of wood (pulp).

Wood element's colours are Burnt Sienna, Venetian Red, Earth Green, Mineral Green, Light Green, Chromium Green Opaque, and Olive Green yellow. Its shape is rectangular.

My next blog-post will help you understand how the elements support and calm your home. 

Paula Kuitenbrouwer

The five elements are for sale on this website as small art cards.

Also as 5 art prints to decorate a Fengshui work room.