Hello friend,
I opened the yellow box with bright green and red lettering and took a deep breath. The waxy smell hugged my little girl heart. Sixty-four colors greeted me, ready to swirl, shade, outline, and blend across the page.
The words describing every hue came second only to the vast array of colors and the luscious smell: mahogany, carnation pink, cadet blue, sea green, wisteria, goldenrod, and timberwolf. Every shade became a story, a feeling, a moment to paint my world.
Those simple, extraordinary colors filled my days and memories. When I had the mumps, then the measles, stuck in my bed and darkened room, I could still imagine and color between the lines—or not. I was free to create.
I am still drawn to color. We all are whether we realize it or not. Designer, Ingrid Fetell Lee, became curious about how color and design influence our lives. When she studied Joy, “it was clear that the liveliest places and objects all have one thing in common: bright, vivid color.”
Lee’s study of joy and color validated the emotions that washed over me with my box of crayons because “it is nearly impossible to separate color and feeling.”
Is this why spring exudes and exemplifies joy? All the colors excite the senses and make me feel wonderfully alive.
Nature seems to know how grey skies, bare trees, and endless monotones have weighed down our spirits. As I rode my bike today, I couldn’t resist smiling at the splotches of white and yellow wildflowers, yellow marigolds, and red roses.
The world is in full bloom spilling colors all over my part of the world.
“We think of color as an attribute, but really, it’s a happening:
a constantly occurring dance between light and matter.”
Let the dance begin!
Talk about joy—see what happens when sunlight, atmosphere, and water meet.
Learn more about where joy hides and how to find it from Ingrid Fatell Lee.
A few musical colors: “Chasing Colors,” “Mellow Yellow,” and “Red, Red Wine.”
"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way."
—Georgia O’Keeffe
"There's a reason we don't see the world in black and white."
—Celerie Kemble
"Life is a train of moods like a string of beads and as we pass through them they prove to be many-colored lenses which paint the world their own hue, and each shows only what lies in its focus."
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you want to read more from me, visit my website. I’ll be there waiting for you.
With gratitude,
Kathryn
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Those daffodils look like butter! Like the richest flavor of chicken broth.
Magenta was my favorite crayon.
You're dragonfly, every photo! The green hues! Dreamy! Spring, we sure come more alive!
Awaiting the White House Correspondents Dinner. Need a chuckle! Chk your links soon, you pass on the best! 😉💞
Ahhhh...spring! Looking gorgeous where you are 🌱