Colors

by | Mar 21, 2012 | 1 comment

A couple of days ago Audrey was painting at her easel.  She’s been really into mixing primary colors to make secondary ones and mixing colors in general: red and blue make purple, red and white yield pink, etc.

But this time she started out with a big, dark grey blob- mixed primarily with black and white.  She thought if she added additional lighter colors on top of that dark grey blob, the color would change to something else or brighten, so I listened as she said, “Let’s see what happens if I add some yellow…hmmm” followed by a small, disappointed sigh, and on and on with each color as the dark grey mass grew.  I had to explain to her that at least with this kind of paint and paper, once she laid down a really dark color- no amount of other colors would really change it.  We’d have to paint on the portion of the paper that was still white- and I took a brush and painted a few strokes of purple and a few of green.

Despite how much I want that “turn” and need something to change- it feels just like this…the lighter colors just don’t show up on top of the dark ones.  At some point you just need a clean piece of paper.

JAC

March 21, 2012

1 Comment

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You May Also Like…

List-making in a Dark Time

List-making in a Dark Time

For any other list-makers out there, I published this on HerStories yesterday.""In this time of quarantine, my lists are offering me space outside of the walls of my home, a way of making sense of chaos, a self-imposed structure on structure-less days, and even a way...

Simple Things

Simple Things

"In our deepest self we keep living with the illusion that we will always be the same." Henri Nowen "It's really very simple," my late spiritual director, Gladys, once said to me. She was talking about how she lived each day, waking up, having a written conversation...

Continuous Living

Continuous Living

"Anxiety turns us toward courage, because the other alternative is despair." Paul Tillich I've claimed "seasonal affective disorder" for years, and that may be so, but I'm starting to realize it's not only summer to fall that is hard for me. It's winter to spring, and...