The Color of Life and Love

Issue #30

As a reader and writer, I have lived in a black-and-white world for years. The pages of books are black-and-white, and the page I write on is black-and-white. I came to color only slowly when I took up the study of art about twenty years ago. 

The complexity of color is hard to understand. There are shades of color within shades of color. Black and white is easier to comprehend.  Black and white makes life simpler. Color adds layers upon layers of mystery and depth.  

Autumn is my favorite season. A time of reflection. The colors of the leaves are shifting and changing. The greens that we have lived with for months are fading from the world. Now we see yellows, reds, and browns. Soon winter will come and we will be back to black and white, waiting for spring to sprout its vibrant greens.

What is the color of your life? Light? Bright? Sparkling? Deep? Dim? Dark?  What is the color of your soul? Yellow? Red? Blue? Purple? Brown? What is the color of your heart? Love? Hate? Indifferent? Compassionate? Discouraged? Hopeful? How do you paint the world?  Gray?  Black and White? Turquoise? Lavender? Rose colored?

Our lives are touched by color, whether we are artists or not. We are attracted to and repulsed by color. We wake to color in the morning, and some of us dream in color.

We love the color of flowers in spring and summer. We love the color of the leaves in autumn. Our lives are filled with color.

We often buy our clothes based on color. We paint the walls of our houses with color. We choose the color of the car we buy. Color is an important part of our lives. Chefs use color to make the meal appealing. Advertisers use color to convince us to buy things.

In a study of blue and red colors, scientists at the University of British Columbia discovered that red makes us more cautious and attentive to details, while blue makes us more creative and receptive to new ideas. Experiments showed that with a red background people performed as much as 31 percent better on tasks like proofreading. When blue was used, people were more open to new ideas and creative solutions.

What are your favorite colors?  Do some colors make you happy?  What colors make you sad? What colors excite you?  How does color shape your leadership style? How does color shape your art?  What colors are you attracted to when viewing a painting? How does color shape your writing? Do you use color as part of your description? How does color affect your music?  

We paint our lives with the color of love. What color is love in your life? Love is about relationships, and the color of love changes with the people we love. Parent-child love is certainly a different color than woman-man love. What color is friend love? Or sibling love? How about pet love? Can you paint a picture of love just using color and no people?

Do you love creating art? Do you love writing? What color is the love of creation? Do you have a passion for what you make? What color is passion?

Plant Seeds of Hope in the hearts of others.