Violet and Purple as The Color

15
Sep

Here we are, finally coming to the end of our quirky exploration of the significance of color. We’ve covered Blue, Red and Pink, Green, Orange (with a resistance to pumpkin spice because when that post was written it was TOO SOON, people. But now that we’re a little further along into fall, I suppose it would be fine for you to indulge in your love of “The Spice”. As if I could have stopped you!), and Yellow. Now we go across the color wheel and land on Violet.

Violet is associated with the material silver, and amethyst stone.

It’s the body part the crown of the head.

It’s symbol is a lotus flower.

It signifies total well-being, and is connected to the universe,

royalty,

peace,

connection and a quick perception of spiritual ideas, the “fine thread of life”. Isn’t that a lovely thought?

Violet is connected with pure knowing, highly developed spirituality, the color of priestess, love and respect for others, inspirational creativity.

It’s the highest frequency in the visible spectrum so people equate it with highest spiritual intuition.

In many traditions violet (or purple) is a regal color reserved for royalty and the gods.

PC: Morguefile @ricetek

Confucius warned followers the expense of purple dye would cause social disorder! He thought it would be like Black Friday at Best Buy. It is the color of enchantment, which begs for a few more images…

A couple more interesting books I’ve referred to for this series are Painting Path: Embodying Spiritual Discovery through Yoga, Brush and Color by Linda Norvick, Painting from the Source: Awakening the Artist’s Soul in Everyone by Aviva Gold, and Colors for Your Every Mood: Discovering Your True Decorating Colors by Leatrice Eiseman.

Sorry, not sorry. Some days are just full of color!

As a closing note, I think what this series has illuminated for me is the non-verbal power of color. We don’t always know why we’re drawn to a specific color, or why one mood makes us want to be around a certain color. We don’t think about it too much, in most instances. But there may be more to our color choices than we realize, more meanings, more unspoken significance. I think that’s why art journaling has become such a valuable part of the rhythm of my life. When I can’t find the word, I can find a color. If I haven’t figured something out, I can at least squish a bunch of paint on a page and let that do the figuring for me. If things are complicated and difficult to process, I can allow color to help me hash things out. This really works, and even if I don’t understand why I keep going to that bright green (for example), one more layer into it, I might get a crazy Ah-ha! moment, whether it’s in my head/heart or in the journal.

I have dreams of offering some more guided art journaling opportunities in this space. I don’t know exactly what that looks like, and I should probably start small. There will always be other projects and topics, so even if art journaling isn’t your thing (although it might be and you just don’t know it yet), there will still be reason to come back here to visit.

I’ve got one last colorful treat for you, a great way to slide into the weekend. This is such a celebration I’ve been holding off on using it until now. It seems like the perfect way to end this series of color meanings. [Note: While this video is visually stunning, tin my opinion, here are folks who feel it appropriates Indian culture. I think that’s a fair argument. It’s just so gorgeous, and I love travel, so I find it more of an appreciation of Indian culture. It is a little noticeable that Beyoncé is portrayed in specific garb; it would have been super cool to meet a fresh new voice of someone of Indian descent. However, it is Beyoncé, and who can argue with her?]

Here’s hoping you have lots of color in your day!

Everybody needs some Yellow

9
Sep

Yellow is one of the colors I love most. [Quick story: I once brought home a cool industrial coffee table once. It was this great deep, distressed yellow with casters and a glass top (which was balanced precariously on top, I can admit it). Turns out my husband thought it was less cool than I did, because when he came home and saw it positioned in the living room he asked when our construction site was going to be done. Stinker! He was right though, and try as I might it just didn’t fit with the vibe of anything else we had. I was sucked in by that beautiful yellow.]

Yellow’s many associations:

amber, topaz, citrine

fire, direction: south. The solar plexus, the sense of sight, a circle or a triangle,

intellect, vitality, reason, cheer, and optimism.

In some cultures, yellow signifies royalty and has connections to gold and sun (think sun gods).

It can also signify change and transformation.

Instagram: @tclmn

Yellow is connected to balance, to teachers or students (formal or informal), thought and concentration, being high-spirited and restless.

^^^^

These are prime reasons I resonate with yellow, though I’ve never known this until I started researching color meanings. Restlessness? Check. The curiosity required to be a student or a teacher, or the desire to learn new things? Check. Balance? Not so much, but it’s something that has a push-pull attraction for me. Yellow is also associated with joy, a sense of playfulness, hope, and being outgoing. Those sound lovely, don’t they? And finally, for Carl Jung it signified intuition, something that for me tends to inform the way I interact with the world around me.

Yellow might be my favorite.

It’s interesting to find out how other cultures view colors or how their language for colors came about. Here’s a video that summarizes some of the ideas in the book by Guy Deutscher about color and language. (I mentioned this book in another post you can read here.)

I’ve gotten a lot of information and inspiration from a book that might raise some eyebrows. It’s called The Women’s Book of Healing by Diane Stein. Prepare your eyebrows. The subtitle is “Auras, Chakras, Laying on of Hands, Crystals, Gemstones, and Colors” (note she used an Oxford coma, just for a little more controversy). There was a time when I would have been afraid of this book or thought anyone reading it was wandering into dangerous territory. However, while I don’t endorse all the material in the book, I do think there are mysterious things in the world, things we can’t explain, and things that intuitively make sense. Rather than run away from things that aren’t explained by logic or measurable metrics, I think we can examine them and take from them what is worthwhile.

Next week is the finally installment of our Color Meanings series, and it feels right to go across the color wheel and close things out with violet or purple, which is yellow’s direct complement. Hope to see you back here next week!

Nothing rhymes with Orange

1
Sep

Orange has a bad reputation, one it doesn’t deserve.

It’s seen as garish, or associated with Halloween and all things pumpkin. [I know there are pumpkin spice fans out there just waiting for the starter gun of fall to signal the return of market saturation (new: pumpkin spice bratwurst! Seriously, if you want to see how far it’s gone — and I know these are NOT all photoshopped — check out this silliness) but it’s not time yet! You can’t make us!]

Orange is used this way, I’m not arguing with that, but it’s not the only way to see it.

Think of the distressed finish of an Italian inspired room or a terra-cotta walkway. Those don’t strike me as garish. They’re rich colors that (to me) convey warmth and hospitality.

Orange is also associated with the positives of healing, wisdom, flourishing emotions, as well as inspiring courage, reasoning ability, and is said to stimulate the appetite (maybe that’s why it’s connected to the whole pumpkin spice craze).

It’s also connected to a crescent or triangle shape. Its sense is taste (thus the appetite stimulant), its direction is west and its element is water.

Finally, if you haven’t seen this video from Kirsty Mitchell Photography yet, you’re in for a treat. It’s a feast for the eyes and her photography and design are breathtaking.

Do you use orange in your life, beyond fall or pumpkins? I’d love to know!

Green — You like it more than you Think

19
Aug

Green is a full of built-in meanings: growth, renewal, nature, earth. It’s a color that can be difficult; when worn it can draw out certain undertones in people’s skin and make them look sallow. The same goes for home decorating uses as well. Who wants to look even more washed out in the bathroom in the morning? No thanks.

However, green is replenishing and calming, neutral as a backdrop for all things outdoors, plants and animals, even homes. If you’re in the market for a new place to live, you’re probably going to be affected by the state of the yard, which will give you a first impression of the house itself.

This is a pretty old journal page, but I still like what’s going on in it.

Depending on your exposure to medical environments you might have associations with a light green, so often used for scrubs or hospital rooms. In fact, according to the book, Colors for your Every Mood by Leatrice Eiseman:

In 1914, a surgeon at St. Luke’s Hospital in San Franscisco was disturbed by the glare of the white walls, drapes, towels, sheets and so forth. He chose a lettuce-leaf green to have his operating room painted because it is the complementary (or opposite) to red and pink — the colors of blood. The color rapidly gained popularity. Thousands of surgical suites, uniforms and drapes were eventually colors green…This “eye-ease green” has been scientifically proven to keep the surgeon’s eyes acure to red and pink, to relieve glare, and to be psychologically cool.

That also explains why we see that pale green in school buses and buildings as well — the same color spread to educational environments too.

Green is connected with air, jade, healing, compassion, and the direction east.

There are lots of imperfections with this but I stand by the message.

Is this green or blue? I used both colors, so maybe it’s in the eye of the beholder.

For a mindbending discussion of color and language, including green, check out this book by Guy Deutscher . It talks about early languages and how when analyzed there seems to be a wide spectrum of colors that are never mentioned, and naming objects with colors we would never associate with the object, such as green honey or a wine-dark sea. I won’t give away how he develops the relationship between color and language, but it is fascinating.

Isn’t it interesting to think about colors and why we like or dislike them?

I’d love to hear your thoughts so feel free to comment!

I haven’t been very good at tagging colors with #colorfun but I’ll try to do better. Use that hashtag for your colorful pics or tag me @tclmn on Instagram so I’ll be sure to see them!

Red and it’s Subdued Friend, Pink

4
Aug

Red has so many associations, it’s hard to know where to start. Power, luck, sensuality, alarm, and intensity all come to mind without even working at it. In our first home we painted the living room red and I loved it enough to use a deeper variation of red in our current home (which I hope we’ll be in for many years to come). My artwork doesn’t usually have a lot of red, but often I’ll need some version of deep pink for it to feel complete.

Red is connected to a square shape, the sense of smell or touch, the heart, and our core or root.

If you’re interested in reading something else related to “red” I wrote a thing you can read here.

Red isn’t only something the impacts us psychologically. It’s physical too. The color red affects our pituitary glans when we are exposed to it, and it sends signals to release adrenaline. This in turn improves our sense of smell, our taste buds are more sensitive, and our appetite improves. (Summarized from Leatrice Eiseman’s Colors for your Every Mood)

Rose or pink is associated with air, east, love, touch, and equal-armed cross shape (think of a plus sign). Compassion and positive self-love are tied up in this color.

Pink is a whole different animal, even though it’s related to red. It can seem thin or watered down, sugar-coated when used with other pastels. It can also be vibrant, youthful and energetic. Even though growing up I was taught pink and red clash with one another and the combo should be avoided, I happen to like the way they play off one another. You can tell they’re cousins.

What do you think of red? Do you wear it much, use it in your decorating? Is it a color that draw or repels you? I’d love to hear about it so leave a comment with your thoughts!

Maybe I’m not the Future

6
Jun

My kids are at optimum summer camp age. You know the age, that magical sweet spot when they want to go away to camp, they can swim, they’re potty trained even at night, and they consistently tie their own shoes. Okay, they’re a little more advanced than just tying their own shoes, but they are those kids who go to camp and throw themselves fully into every game, every activity, every challenge. Their cabin leaders are gods, the camp staff are living like kings, and everything about going away is a dream come true.

We visited a special camp recently, one my husband attended as a child, one I worked at one summer, one my father attended as a child, one my grandparents helped support and build when it was first established. Even with all the changes and improvements, I felt as though I had been on staff just recently, say…three summers ago. In reality, I was on staff for one single summer, and that summer was almost 20 years ago. How can that be? I’m just barely 30 (in my mind) so I must have been the youngest staff member EVER since I would have had to be 10 for that math to work out.

Seriously, how can that be?

Here I am, barely out of my ~~20s~~ (~~30s~~…okay I’m in my 40s…but please note that’s my early 40s), and somehow I have children who want to go to camp, one of whom will attend YOUNG TEENS.

And all these tiny babies think they run the joint. They just learned to walk last week so how in the world can they think they can run a camp? They still have to have two naps a day and just started being able to grip a spoon to feed themselves, and they think people are going to entrust their children to their care??

Photo Credit: Morguefile @kakisky

Actually, they are glorious. They are all golden and fresh, thinking they’re the first ones to ever think their thoughts or breathe their air. Their attempted maturity is endearing. That’s not to say they haven’t had experiences or lived through difficulty. But so much is out in front of them, so many directions their lives can go — almost any direction if they’re willing to live on ramen noodles (do college students still scrimp by on ramen noodles?) and have cardboard boxes as furniture.

As they floated by with their backpacks and minor sunburns, I remembered being them. I remembered being sure I could do it, sure I would probably work there full time one day, sure my ideas would work, sure I would impact the future of camp, sure I’d make a difference in the lives of the campers who came through. I was the future.

Now I’m not the future anymore. I’m not sure what time period I am (present? past? imperfect participle?).

Even if I’m unsure, I’m happy to simply be here now. “In the now” is the phrase, right? Here is good. Now works. I’ll take it.

Did you ever attend or work at camp? I’d love to hear about it. Did you know I’m writing a novel that centers around camp? It’s true! I’m more than halfway done, and I think it’s a really fun story (and real, and hard. You know, like life.). I look forward to being able to tell you more about it soon!

Shoulds and Ought-Tos

7
May

Every day life is full of shoulds and ought-tos.

I ought to be more organized.

I ought to prioritize more exercise.

This house needs to be decluttered.

I forgot to follow up with those teachers – wonder if they’ll check their email before they leave for the day.

I can’t forget to do that work thing.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen the grandparents; I need to call them and arrange a visit.

Why doesn’t life issue personal assistants to each of us? Speaking of, I should make those dentist appointments.
So. many. shoulds.

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There are so many things I should do, but I don’t…or at least I do those things first. And in so doing (or not doing), there are times when I ignore responsibility and chores, putting off for tomorrow what ought to be done today.

However, there are also times when by delaying those “shoulds”, I’m taking a gamble on myself.

I’m taking a gamble on finding meaningful work that allows me to use my creativity, that gives me an opportunity to experiment and explore the world I create wth words or layers of paints and papers. I’m putting my own interests, passions and dreams ahead of the tasks that will still be there to do later today and all the rest of the days to come.

It’s scary stuff, taking a chance on ourselves.

It’s hard to put aside the expectations of others and ourselves, whether those expectations come by way of our personality, training, environment or background.

In my mind, I’m supposed to be organized, driven, scheduled, and clutter free in all ways. I’m also supposed to be compassionate, mindful, wholehearted, brave, healthy, understanding, and an advocate for the disenfranchised. There’s also the side of expectations that demands I be creative, in tune with my intuition, deliver fresh ideas, see the angles other don’t see, chase the light.

In reality, I’m rarely only some of these on my best day. Some days I just want to eat a milkshake in bed and watch old reruns of the Cosby Show. Mmmm, milkshake.

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Comparison is a joy stealer.

If we see something done by someone we admire we think we can recreate it by implementing some strategy, some list of things we can do and then we’ll achieve that elusive place of status or contentment. We don’t stop to consider the process it took to get to that point — we only see someone’s current situation. Or we think the exact process can be recreated by anybody who just wants it bad enough.

Comparison easily becomes envy, and even if it doesn’t, it easily becomes one more whip we use to lash ourselves.

We get so busy looking outside to the people and things out there, we rarely stop to sit with ourselves and make friends with who we are.

When we focus on all the things we should do, we put our energy elsewhere, into the future (distant or immediate) rather than right now.

Let’s use this scenario…Have you ever had a child ask you to play with him or her? It’s easy to say no, since there are so many “productive” things to get done. And sometimes there’s truth to that – there are things that have to get done because if they don’t, there are consequences.

But what happens when you chose to say yes to the child’s request? There are big rewards, not only for the child. There’s a time shift that happens, a veil that gets pulled back to allow you to enter an enchanted world of slow time, time that is all-at-once and not-yet. Sometimes the spell only lasts a for a scene, before the dog shoves open the door with his nose and comes in (or the sibling barges in or the phone rings, etc.).

For right now, I want to remember to listen to my inner voice and pay attention and give my full atttention to what’s right in front of me. My to-do list (even that mental one) will still be there tomorrow.

Discovery of a new Universe – a painting Project

20
Mar

Happy Monday all! Hope this finds you digging into whatever projects you need to get done this week, and making headway on all the things.

After talking about trying to gauge how best to use this space, I felt very affirmed in doing what’s come most naturally to me, which is to just share what’s going on without worrying too much about curating a specific image or narrow focus. That said, I’d like to share a recent project I documented. If nothing else it will bring some more color to your day.

Let’s get started!

Staring down the blank page

Now what?! I just grab things that appeal to me and slap ’em down on the page. My writing is a little like that too; I write those scenes that are most clear to me, then once I’ve got a flow going I can trace back and add in the parts that should have come ahead of that. It’s especially helpful when just getting started.

Slappin’ down some things to get started.

That’s better, but it looks too sparse to me so I’ll add some more fun in the form of paints and some tissue papers.

Trying to allow myself to use whatever colors appeal to me, without worrying what it will look like when it’s done.

Now when I look at it, something’s coming to mind. I can’t quite identify it yet, but suddenly I want to flip it the other way around, so the bottom becomes the top, and now there’s a person in there.

Upside-daisy!

The circles become the center of a person.

I like this, but there’s A LOT going on. It’s hard to want to cover it up, but this amount of visual noise is not satisfying. I like the way India inks play with layers, so I’ll try to use that next.

Here’s how it ended up.

Close up!

Overall I’m happy with this. What I’m trying to be aware of proportionality, meaning what will work best in a given room. This would probably be best in a smaller area, since the girl is fairly little. I want to begin working larger, but since I work so very s-l-0-w-l-y (in painting as well as writing) something larger would probably take me two weeks to finish. That would be okay but I’m also impatient! A difficult duo to balance!

Hope you’ve enjoyed seeing a little behind the scenes here today. I’d love to hear about any projects you’re working on, and how long it’s taking you to get them done! 🙂

Renewed Shenanigans

21
Feb

Since it’s a strange weathered-February, it seems right to finally do an update here. I haven’t been trying to maintain radio silence; I’ve been moving into an expanded role in a job that’s been developing on the side for a bit. It’s exciting and I’m now part owner of a small business, which shows you how little screening they do of these sorts of things.

That’s only part of it, and I could use your input with another part.

As you know, I’ve got a bee in my bonnet for creative experiences. Painting has been at the forefront for longer than I anticipated. My dad getting sick and then losing him made it virtually impossible to tap into the writing that I had identified with for so long. I’ve (mostly) accepted that.

[Shhh…I’ll tell you something extra true: there are moments when I wonder about lost-time or opportunities I might have missed. That’s my first impulse. Once I notice that impulse, I remind myself that’s coming from a place of scarcity and a place of worry that there are a finite number of opportunities available, a.k.a. if I don’t get one of these opportunities they’ll run out before my turn comes round again. I don’t have to accept that mentality, and I don’t. There’s more than enough to go around, for me and for you too.]

I’ve allowed myself to explore and develop other ways of expressing the roiling thoughts and feelings that have come in these years of wrestling. Paints, scribbling, ripping paper, smearing color – these have become a language without words.

Original mixed media art by TC Larson (that’s me!)

This is good; it’s good to have tools with which you approach the world. It gave me new ways to work through difficult situations and was useful then when, about six months after losing my dad, my daughter (I call her Princess Teacup here) was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

The diagnoses is permanent and it has impacted, well, everything. It’s not that you don’t get used to it – you do. It’s that by necessity, it changes so much of the rhythm of your life.

Okay back to you, Dear Reader. You can see that I’m a little all over the place. I could really use your input.

Painting, writing, creativity.
Type 1 Diabetes
Family, friends, silliness, and motherhood.
Encouragement, faith, spirituality, crabby wrestling with the Church.

These are all things that flow through my life. Does it make you crazy to hear about ALL of them? Do you wish this space was more focused? Do you wish you knew you could come here and get a daily pep talk? Do you get tired of hearing about grief and loss? Would you like to read snippets of stories I’m working on, now that I’m writing again?

This is when I turn to you, Dear Reader, and I’d really value what you have to say. Speak freely now, friends. I want to hear it. Your input can help shape the direction I go. I plan revamp things in order to better make this space reflect some of the shifts that have happened, and hearing from you would really help me.

Even though it’s been a while, I want you to know I appreciate you and the opportunity (there’s that word again) to share here with you.

Now get outside and enjoy this bizarre February heat wave. We’re all suspicious of it and are pretty sure it can’t last. Remember, the high school winter sports finals haven’t happened yet, and that’s when we here in Minnesota almost always get hit with a blizzard (click here for proof!). Don’t put away those snow shovels yet.

Since I’m already being “that person” and asking for things, I’m just gonna go for all the bananas and put this here: Donate and support us at the JDRF One Walk Fundraiser.

Second week of Advent: Love

3
Dec

We are entering the second week of Advent. The focus for this week is Love.

The first week of Advent, the focus was on Hope.

That didn’t go so well for me. How’d it go for you?

I thought that trying to focus on hope this week would make me more full of hope. I thought maybe I’d see places that showed signs of hope.

Instead, it seemed to go the other way.

The good church-girl in me immediately went to the thought of Maybe that’s because Hope doesn’t come from inside us. We need to get our Hope from God and since this is Advent, and because it’s always the answer: Jesus.

But I’m crabbier than that now, a much more cantankerous, reluctant “person of faith” (if I even qualify for that anymore, which I know some people would say I don’t. But I’d be pretty happy to NOT be associated with that kind of faith).

Then, upon further reflection on last week, I remembered why being hopeful might have reason to be hard this week. It was my dad’s birthday, or would have been if he was still with us. He would be 70. It would also have been my parents anniversary.

These dates will not change from year to year, and they’ll always fall near the beginning of Advent. You’d think I wouldn’t be surprised by an undercurrent dragging down my spirits, and yet, I am surprised. Maybe there’s a lesson there for me, but I’m not seeing it yet.

Because this week’s Advent focus (I never know how to phrase that. We light a candle and call it the Hope candle or the Love candle. So do I call it this week’s Advent candle is Love? Maybe so but we’re not actually talking about the candle. See what I mean?? We’re going to call it a focus, unless you, Dear Reader, can point me to another way wordologizing it.) Now…where were we?

Oh yes…

Advent. Love.

Because this week’s Advent focus is Love, one the first things that comes to mind is to recount all the people we love, the things we love doing, the places that hold special meaning for us.

We probably also quickly go to romantic love. We can think on the intensity of love, the way it make us just a tiny bit crazy, and even the way it can begin with pure intentions and grow twisted in its desire to be reciprocated.

Love is one of our most universal connectors is love. It’s something we all feel, all desire. I think it’s even a force similar to gravity or energy. The powerful force of love causes us to sacrifice, emboldens us, spurs us to action.

Love, with a capital L, is that Divine force that unifies us and gently nudges us towards choosing generosity, selflessness, hospitality, honesty, empathy. It’s draw us together across our separations. It gives us the courage to set aside our pride and enter a relationship humbly.