Color

When I was little, I remember having an argument with my cleverer and wiser older cousins about colors. Still very much in the concrete mode of thinking, I argued that the color black was the presence of all colors, because that’s what it took with a box of 64 to get black if you didn’t have it. Combining all the paint colors in a watercolor tin lid also makes black. No, Becci, black is the absence of color because color is the various elements of light. And of course, how could I possibly be wrong? All the colors put together make black! I had first hand experience. I knew. Then seventh grade science helped me put my foot in my mouth. Thank you Mrs. Helsel and roygbiv.

I’ve mentioned that winter is difficult for me. The lack of light, the Walla Walla inversions, the gray upon gray upon gray sucks the soul right out of a body. At least that’s what it feels like. Sometimes that darkness doesn’t just hit in the winter. It can insidiously unfurl at any time and reach up and try to steal hope and joy. Color is one of my weapons to fight against those dementors.

I have gone to fabric stores many times when I can feel the darkness surrounding in order to simply stare at the wall of color. In the spring and summer, it’s so easy. I get to immerse myself in garden work and all the colors the flowers provide. Winter is the challenge. Before Bryan and I were married, I lived in a cute little cottage over on Otis Street. The kitchen had tile floor. I remember getting fed up with almost two weeks of inversions. I grabbed some paint and a couple of canvases and I knelt on that tile floor covered in drop cloths and painted furiously. I needed ALL the colors I could feast my eyes on to remind myself the gray doesn’t last for ever. These are the two paintings I created that day. I’ve kept them because they are both a reminder to bring light and color to dark places and illustrate that my adult art journey had a distinct beginning.

I’m thankful for color because it is a survival tool. And the more I learn from art instruction (thanks Lynn, Todd, Melissa, Emi), and practice, the more I see colors better and in new ways. Even the grayest days have lavender, rust, Payne’s gray, burgundy, gold, peach, violet if I pay attention.

[Tip jar: https://venmo.com/u/Rebecca-Lubbers-1]