Sunday, June 3, 2012

Making Peace with Blue

It is possible that I've finally settled on a color scheme for this blog.  I've changed it again and again.  It is no longer just a matter of choosing what I like or satisfying aesthetics.  My eyes have made endless demands.  I'm noticing that it isn't easy to satisfy the needs of growing cataracts and eyes damaged by side effects of RA medications.  Beyond the dictates of my eyes, I have this thing about the color, Blue.

I don't know when my conflict with Blue began.  I appear in old photos wearing Blue. Blue skies delight me.  The sight of Lake Tahoe's blue waters--breathtaking!  Light Blue jeans always have a place in my wardrobe.  My new office chair, though no family member would have thought it possible, is... Blue.  Well, okay, the chair is not Blue by choice.  I chose comfort and comfort came only in dark Blue.

All university system offices I worked in across three decades were carpeted and painted in shades of Nevada Blue.  I want my gold star for surviving that!  I'd be physically uncomfortable and perhaps sleepless in Sparks in a Blue bedroom.  I find it easy to put color combinations together unless it involves using the color, Blue.  I gave up trying to come up with a pleasing Blue palette during my 'sweet, young thing' days of painting Tole consignment pieces.  I don't do Blue dishes in my own home.  I wouldn't make a big deal of it if you served me on one at your house, unless you're a member of my immediate family.  My kids and grand-kids expect me to make a big deal of it and I don't disappoint them.  More Blues I feel strongly about, not necessarily in this order and by no means an all-inclusive list, are:

  • Blue food, unless it comes Blue in its natural, unaltered, no-messing-with-its-gene-pool state, eggplant being the exception.  Why would I waste a good meal eating something with no flavor of its own and the texture of a sponge?  But that's another blog for another time.  
  • Blue M&M's--I give those to my grand-kids.
  • Fresh flowers sprayed or colored systemically Blue.  As much as I loved doing wedding floral work back in the day at Simi's, it wasn't as fun when brides or their moms requested an artificially colored Blue palette.
  • Blue cake frosting--UGH!  Let me say that again.  Blue cake frosting--UGH!
  • A Blue color scheme for gingerbread houses--something I avoid. 
  • A basic Navy Blue wardrobe.  Few people wear navy well yet it is almost always among the listed color choices.
When it comes to color, I know what I like.  It hasn't changed since I was a sweet, young thing of 17.  It's a part of who I am.

3 comments:

  1. I always say I don't have a favorite color, but I have to admit that since we moved to the mountains, I consistently decorate in blues and tans. Kind of an organic thing - feels like it goes with the great outdoors. Better not come visit me :D/

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    1. Sue, your choice of decor sounds lovely. Todd is color-blind. Blue was a shade he could recognize and feel comfortable with growing up, thus--blue bedroom, blue clothes, blue everything. Topher loves blue, too. His childhood bedroom remains blue. When I visit you, my eyes will pick out the greens--of pines, underbrush, mountains--things that you may see as blue. Jenn insists there is blue in my much loved carpet. I see nothing blue about it. Interesting, huh.

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  2. Ahem. I have a red/green deficiency, but I am not "blind". :) It is true that blue is the wavelength my eyes see best, and perhaps that's why it was always my favorite. But I like your red color scheme just fine. Nice to know you're getting over your Blue Block. I've finally learned to accept Green, so I guess we're both making polychromatic progress.

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