Pink has some life lessons for me and a lot of pink makes the point even stronger. After-school special time!
Just pink all the way down
Recently I was flipping through my saved posts in Instagram and I noticed there was rather a lot of pink. I hadn’t consciously been saving pink things but when I looked at the list as a whole it was definitely there.
Pretty in Pink
I grew up in the Luv’s Baby Soft era and everything that was feminine was pink, pink, pink. So as a teen I rebelled. I was into anything that wasn’t pink. There was a phase where I only wore purple and one where I was mostly into green. I wasn’t goth but dang, I had a lot of black in my closet. I wasn’t interested in seeing the possibilities in pink.
Before my 2018 100 Day Project, I didn’t use pink or think about it much. That project was a way to get in touch with those colors because I didn’t use them. From that project, yellow has become my signature color. My phone, ipad, kindle, wallet, water bottle, crochet notions bag, as well as other things are all yellow. You can find my stuff because it’s usually bright yellow. Yellow is my accent color in my living room. I am surrounded by a lot of yellow.
But in artwork I key in on the pink now. I tend to use it as a pop of color pretty regularly now. Pink really energizes me when I see it in art. I love to see a zig-zaggy line in hot pink because it feels a little less intimidating while still communicating a lot of energy. Neon pink feels punk rock to me. It is an extreme color and I like it with some of the distressed, cut up work I do. Magenta is deep and mysterious. Baby pink is light and fluffy. There’s just so much to be communicated with this color.
Somewhere in the pink
What I learned with pink in my 100 day project is that deep study and contemplation produces appreciation. It’s the same lesson I learned with earth tones when I dove into them for a while. I’ve even learned to (marginally) appreciate burgundy, which has traditionally been my favorite color to hate on.
Spending time with people, places, and things and approaching them with curiosity and openness always has a way of loosening my preconceived notions. It allows for expansion inside my thinking process and I typically learn new things and develop some new appreciations. So when I was scrolling through my saved feed it really struck me how much I’ve expanded and developed an appreciation for a color that I hadn’t wanted anything to do with a huge chunk of my life.
Life lessons through color
And so in true after-school special fashion, I have learned a valuable life lesson from color. Slow down. Spend some time. Ask questions. Stay open. Rest in the moment and allow some possibilities to blossom. Allow feelings and ideas to develop.
Ugh. Don’tcha just hate it when something so seemingly trite turns out to be 100% accurate? I’d roll my eyes buy you can’t see it. Trust me though, I’ve rolled them half a dozen times while writing this post. I may like pink now but I’m still Gen X and cynical.
Where are you with pink? I want to know if you love it or hate it or if it’s changed your life. Catch up with me on socials, email me, or go old school and leave a comment on this post to be immortalized for all of time.
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