I have not written for quite a while. At the beginning of 2021, I was publishing on Medium. I still plan to keep that up. But, I need to figure out where my time is best spent.
Right now, I am focused on working with color. It’s so exciting that I want to share my experiences with this with others. I spent yesterday working with someone on the color yellow. We did some color therapy exercises and she left the session happy!! The color work took us both from stress, fatigue, and multidirectional to relaxed, rejuvenated, and purpose.
I am always astounded at the powerful effects color has. The exercise we did was around clothing. We did a meditation and vision around the colors in the clothes in our closet, then looked at thge actual clothes and colors, and then looked at our impressions of why and how we used these colors, and what colors we could use when we got up and got dressed to present messages to ourselves and others.
Often when I am in studio I instinctually reach for certain colors over others. I remember when I first entered graduate school at Rhode Island School of Design, , I had an intense desire for the color orange. I literally made a 4 x 6 painting that was one solid mixed color of what I emotionally felt was the perfect color orange. That painting hung in my workspace for almost the entire first semester. It was not until years later that I learned about the chakras.
Orange is the sacral chakra, or the second chakra, in the area from the lower abdomen to the navel. The elements associated with it include water and emotional identity. It is aligned with the planet Mars, and the Sun. And, it is the color of creativity and sexuality. How amazing that that was the color that I instinctually knew I needed at that time in my life.
I read up on the color orange recently. Other sources say it is the color of joy and promotes wellness, and that orange stones can increase self esteem, confidence, and personal power. Perhaps it is no accident that I am writing about this now. When I sit down to write like this, I do not ever know what I am going to talk about until it comes out. But I am on the cusp of a new chapter in my work life, in which I have committed to a deeper focus on my art work and the teaching aspect centered around both the physical dye techniques I use and the creativity piece. I have learned over the years that I learn as much or more from students and clients than I teach! Teaching and learning are a circular flow and I have always believed that all students are teachers and all teachers are students.
Orange can stimulate passion, emotional balance, harmony, freedom, and intuition. Perhaps its time for another orange painting. Interestingly, my student had very little yellow in her wardrobe, but just this past week she had bought a yellow sweater. I have only one orange item in my wardrobe, it is a sweater I bought to walk on misty afternoons so hunters would see me and not think I was a deer. Perhaps I will take my own advice, and wear this orange sweater this week.
