If someone
asked ‘what color represents spring?’ my initial response would be red, what
with the robin bobbin’ along and red tulips being my favorite flowers. Plus there’s the blood of Good Friday and
Passover. But upon reflection, it turns
out my color for spring is blue.
Why? ‘Cuz if
I’m honest, I get a bout of the blues in spring. I feel out of sync with all that is coming to
life around me. Blue is considered a conservative
and sincere color. Folk lore tells us
that if a captain of a ship died while at sea, the crew would fly a blue flag
for grief and sadness, thus the phrase ‘feeling blue.’
While blue
is the color of the sky and the sea, representing confidence, calm and serenity,
we know that the heavens can open dramatically and the ocean can be dangerous. I can smile at the bluebells and the grape
hyacinths, bask under a bright blue spring sky but still feel down, more in the
shade than awash in sunlight.
Artists use blue to provide perspective and distance. When I’m blue in spring my perspective is out of focus. I can miss the joy and hope that accompanies the scent of that first spring rain. I feel distant, separated from life and love. But I hide this very well and know that my blues won’t last long.
Artists use blue to provide perspective and distance. When I’m blue in spring my perspective is out of focus. I can miss the joy and hope that accompanies the scent of that first spring rain. I feel distant, separated from life and love. But I hide this very well and know that my blues won’t last long.
This year’s
early spring has upset the usual cycle. The
blues and yellows of lupines, daffodils and forsythia are gone already and so,
luckily, is my blue funk. I have moved on
from blue. While I will enjoy the blue columbines,
morning glories and forget-me-nots, I’m anxious for the full color palette of
the gardens to come.
Perhaps
you, too, have a trigger for the occasional blues. Or, maybe you are someone who struggles daily
with deep blues of despair and depression, feeling out of step not just with the
season but with the whole world. This musing
has made me wonder if spring’s time of freshness and open windows is an added
burden for you.
So, what is your color story for spring?
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I love this! The most obvious color would be green, however a line in a Frost poem, "nature's first green is gold" comes closer to what I think. There is a glimmering iridescence combining gold, silver, copper, bronze with hints of various color that I believe I see. Having been born in spring, there is a pep in my step when it comes around.
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ReplyDeleteYellow. Always Yellow. Bright canary, blazing yellow! While every season seems to insight deep emotions in me, Spring is one where I feel an amazing humming/buzzing in my body, mind and spirit. I go into a deep hybernation in the fall and winter. Here in the PNW the days of fall and winter are so gray and wet, the "ceiling" (sky) so low and confining. When Spring starts appearing, in all her fierceness, grace and glory (oh yes, she is all three at the same time!), I stumble out of my slumber and my entire self awakens. It is no wonder that I am drawn to the cracle of thunder and lightning that accompnaies spring storms in the Midwest, The hummingbirds that appear in the spring, the smell of the air as it warms under the sun's rays. Spring always arrives just in time, to wrap me up in her arms, to nourish me with hope and set me upright again.
ReplyDeletePink! I love to see the purple crocuses as the very earliest signs of spring. Then I love the light greens as leaves begin to pop open on all the trees. I love the yellows of the forsythia bush, the daffodils, and the goldfinches. But most of all, I love all the pinks of the flowering trees, from the palest to the brightest of the flowering crabs. And, of course, the most beautiful shade of all is on the redbuds. All these colors make me happy, with the incredible shade of the redbuds making me the happiest of all. THANKS, Marilyn, for starting this blog. I look forward to reading your musings again.
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