my not-so-purple life

Hello friends,

Since the early 1990's I decided that purple was not a good color. I have taken great pains over the years not to wear purple or to use it in any way to decorate my home. That is, until recently. Oh, sure, I had these purple shoes for a few years and wore them so much that I had to throw them away. And in this photo of me taken a year ago, I am donning my lavender scarf (albeit thrifted, vintage and mohair).

Somehow I never thought purple would enter my artwork either. But it has. I can distinctly remember painting this purple sea urchin and then working more purple into my pieces that same week, feeling slightly queasy and very unsure of my decision. And this week I got really inspired by some purple ephemera I have and made the collage pictured above (which I think goes well with the purple-hued photo take late Monday night of Wilfredo and me).

So maybe I am not a complete purple hater. I do think it can make a good accent on occasion. I am having to take a moment this week to appreciate this color I have outwardly rejected for so long. Can I accept purple as part of the family? I think maybe.

That's it for today.

Cheers.

Comments

[francesca]

do you know this poem by jenny joseph, lisa?

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
and satin candles, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired
and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
and run my stick along the public railings
and make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
and pick the flowers in other people's gardens
and learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
and eat three pounds of sausages at a go
or only bread and pickles for a week
and hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
and pay our rent and not swear in the street
and set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

[Dawn]

That is sooooo funny. I too have spent my whole life being a purple hater...recently I decide that some shades of purple were actually amazing....so funny. xoxo :)

[Kristin La Flamme]

With your love of yellow, it's no surprise that eventually a bit of it's compliment would eventually work it's charms on you. :-)

[Jen]

I've always felt the same way about purple. Not too long ago though, I was walking through Target and saw these beautiful BEAUTIFUL purple sheets. They had a great pattern (and I'm a pattern junkie) but that wasn't it. It was the color. I held them in my hand for awhile, looking and trying to figure it out. Like, why did I like this? Is it zeitgeist? some weird shift in color patterns, like how bright 80's colors are creeping up everywhere? I finally just decided maybe purple had a bad rap. It was too tied into tie-dye and candles. Maybe I just needed to see purple in a new light, a new context? I don't know.. but like Dawn said above Purple has definitely charmed me now.

[mims]

eh, purple. it does leave me a tad cold. But PLUM! give that purple some hints of brown and red and I am
so there.

[jenny]

same here with the purple. never been into it.

but- deep dark plum and grape! those are two shades that i can find love for.

funny.

i sort of used to feel that way a little bit about yellow, but how i love it now.

[Janelle]

I love deep purples. Anything too light feels washed out to me. And strangely, I've been using a lot of purple in my paintings lately.

[sophia]

my first experience with purple...layering red and blue crayon scribbles to see if it was true.
purple with grey...sexy

[Lisa]

francesca. I do know that poem well!

[katrina]

hooray! what a super post. i think it's most exciting when we push up against our own rules for our selves. when we expand our ideas of our work or our selves or embrace something that makes us uncomfortable or uncertain or all the rest. when we allow something we had considered off limits, even a color! so, congrats on this simple and yet symbolic creative turn!

[leah]

hehe, i feel that way about pink, but have been playing with wearing bits of it and adding some to my art. it's always good to play with and push your color boundaries, i think!

[Laurie G. (morningk)]

Hmmm think Eggplant. Eggplant and lime. Eggplant and lemon yellow. Yum.

[Nikki]

Funny, I've always loved purple. Now Orange, that was a color I could do without. I, too, find it slowly creeping into my work.

[nancybkg]

I had punched in "purple" and came to your blog..
I think...
Purple has its place..
Have you seen a purple Rosti bowl?
Red + Purple
The name Purple is interesting, if you look at it like it is not a color.
What could purple mean if it weren't a color?
Purple has been unfairly sitting at the back of the bus for too many years.
Purple in small doses..like the little crocus in the spring.
Purple has a large color range. Purple is not always the color of Koolaid or grape bubble gum.
How about "Earthy Purple" for a new crayon?

[Margaret Oomen]

That is so funny as I read this in my favorite purple cords and electric purple organic tank from H&M. Purple used to rock my world when I was a university student. I even had purple roots leather boots and purple birkenstock sandles. I tell my children that when I die I want my ashes spread where wild purple flowers grow . Maybe you have introduced purple into your artistic vision for me?