
I am overcome whenever I see a blue like this. Cobalt blue. Yves Klein Blue. YInMN Blue. My heart quickens; I can’t stop smiling; I’m sure my eyes dilate. All the signs of love. I want to dive into such a blue, merge with it.
This love affair with color began with my first set of 64 Binney & Smith crayons. You know them as Crayola but they weren’t always such. I can still see six-year-old me sitting on the floor of my room lost in sounding out the names of each paper-wrapped stick of visual magic. Magenta! Periwinkle! Mulberry! Bittersweet! Goldenrod! I memorized the subtleties between Forest Green and Pine Green; Raw Umber and Burnt Sienna; Brick Red and the (appropriately now-retired) Indian Red.
I dreaded ruining the points of all my blue crayons but I had no choice. Aquamarine set me sailing, while Midnight Blue seated me beneath a starry sky way past my bedtime. Cornflower felt like a summer day and Periwinkle made me swoon. The shade of blue to the left, the shade of delphinium and the Girl with the Pearl Earrings head wrap delights me like no other. I don’t know why, but every time we cross paths, I am happy to be alive to enjoy it.
What color zings your strings? What hue colors you happy? Share, please!
UPDATE
This week’s shout-out to blue was planned before I saw today’s NYTimes story on YInMN Blue (2.7.2021, Sunday Style section, page 3.) It’s leapt from the lab and has made it into Crayola’s offerings under the name Bluetiful. Limited availability for artists, but hopefully not for long.
Sunshine yellow is so cheerful. Makes me think of the beginning of a new day and all the potential it holds.
Hi Ilene,
I can absolutely see that sunshine yellow leads you in that direction.
You are the essence of sunshine yellow.
Love
Debra
Debra, once again, you have me!!!! I adore color, as you know. We have fun with it, you and me. I love all the different names of colors, but this blue dazzles me too! It brings you and me together. My love for purple and magenta and periwinkle blue lights me up! But beyond that I LOVE COLOR! Give me bright, beautiful colors each day, and see me smile. And color brings you and me together. It brightens the world we live in. It ZOWS me (whatever that means. It just came to me) It also WOWS me with it’s wondrous different shades and palettes! Thank you for writing about color. I’m smiling all over!