Color as Pure Entertainment: ColorJoy
Color for Joy
I got out colored pencils this week and doodled. I purposely doodled on a crumpled brown envelope, so that I would not think it needed to be refined. The idea was pure joy, just putting colors together.
Here is a photograph of my beloved friend Isabel (who started Kindergarten this week Tuesday). She came over and we played with sidewalk chalk.
She and her friend Bea (also 5 yrs old) Â made sure I got to do this, I had never done it before. I’m just too old to have had the supplies as a child, that’s sort of a new thing since I grew up.
I found that when I drew with a piece of chalk, my whole arm drew, not just a few fingers. I generally tighten up when I try to sketch or draw. Friends talk about the “line quality” in drawings. My lines do not have a sense of quality or flow, as a rule. The sidewalk chalk was different, and I enjoyed that feeling.
Other Color Fun
Sometimes I embellish with fabric paints, which is fun. I have used fabric paints both on cell phones and magnetic sheets (made star magnets for my car, and a sock-shaped magnet as well).
I have used fingernail polish to embellish many, many household items and gizmos, including the pictured thermos and a palm “pilot” device. For someone who does not use polish on her fingers, I have more colors than anyone might imagine!
Question of the Day
In order to enter my one-week contest to win a Joy of Sox book, leave me a comment. Leave me a link to a photo to get an extra bonus entry!
How do you use color as pure joy in your own life? Do you choose clothing for fun, do you assemble foods on the plate thinking of their colors? Are crayons, sidewalk chalk, finger paint in your life? How do you experience “ColorJoy” in your own daily living?
September 11th, 2009 at 8:49 am
I experience “ColorJoy” throught Yarns. I purchase yarn in colors I love. I knit daily and while knitting, I really enjoy the yarn color(s). When I was a child, I used to color and loved my crayons with all the various colors. Now, I experience that Happy Color feeling through yarn and knitting, weaving, crocheting! http://www.ravelry.com/projects/StaceyKnitsIt/one-skein—a-stole-english-version Link is to my stole made from Noro Kureyon Sock yarn.
September 11th, 2009 at 10:09 am
You know, this took some thought. Until I get my desk set up, the only creative outlet I thought I had was knitting, and that is usually too slow and deliberate for me to think of as pure joy. I used to use oil pastels, or paint, or collage and get very messy and joyful all over the place.
But then I looked back at my blog and found that some of the essence of that joy comes from my photography, and the playing around in photoshop with some of the pictures when I feel like bringing some abstraction into it.
Here is a post showing some of the joy, in a wide variety of colorplay, from subtle to vibrant:
http://otterwise.blogspot.com/2009/08/cabage-berry-lily-sun-and-fluffy.html
September 11th, 2009 at 10:46 am
I’m not much for drawing or painting, but I love colourful yarn and colourful food (especially salads). Lately I’ve been making tiny mosaics with bits of paint chips.
September 11th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
I indulge my ColourJoy through dyeing yarn. Almost all my yarn is bought on sale, so I usually have to take whatever colours I can get. However, I often overdye and have a lot of fun creating new colours and colour combinations. Here are a couple of examples
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/teerling/butterfly-mitts
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/teerling/wild–woolly-winter-work-socks
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/teerling/prairie-spring
September 11th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
as I wear a uniform to work , I express my joy of color in fun socks!
September 11th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
This was easy for me to answer. When we moved into this tiny apartment with white walls that I am not allowed to paint, and I had to try to figure out what to do with my stash of yarn and rovings, I decided that they should be on display. I brought several bookcases to line the walls and let it all be out to gaze at and inspire me. Okay, a couple of book cases actually contain books, but they have colorful spines too. The rest of the color in my life comes from the view out the glass doors.
Here is a picture of one corner when we first started that project. It has been refined several times since then. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3299/3335960896_eef0c3b0d9.jpg
September 11th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Most of the color in my everyday life is, of course, in the yarn I play with (or just look at and lust after!). That’s part of the reason I spend so much time at the shop even when I’m not working – I love to look at the pretty colors that I can’t afford right now and I always love seeing what colors other people are using in their projects.
My new yarny friends just convinced me (we’re talking, like, five hours ago) to do the sock yarn blanket. They gave me several itty bitty skeins to get me started and those are the colors I’m most excited about at the moment:
http://picasaweb.google.com/PPoohBear122/PictureOfTheDay#5380427900170201906