Color Our World - Again?

                            

Mere color, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways. 
            ~Oscar Wilde

 A dear chaplain friend of mine recently posted some thoughts on Facebook about how winter makes her want to dress all in black. She lamented the absence of color that this brings, although she did comment on how she accessorizes with brightly colored scarves. Her post made me smile, because when I think of her she is dressed this way and I always thought she looked so... arty and creative! But I do understand her point-- winter can be a drab, seemingly colorless season. And this winter has gone on and on for so long sometimes I forget what color there is in the world.

Long ago, during some troubled times in my life, I sought solace and self-expression by taking art classes. First I took a couple drawing classes that helped me begin to view the world a little differently-- the world changes considerably when you start looking at it with an artist's eye for sketching. I learned about negative space and perspective and shading. And I was eager to create, and wanted to begin to use color as well. Water color painting classes came next, and eventually I took a course in acrylic painting. While I never considered myself overly talented, I did find a great deal of pleasure in all this, and actually did paint a few things for other people.

I emerged from that time of self-discovery with a love for color-- bright colors, pale colors, all the hues of the rainbow. Our home is decorated with a lot of color, and I love it. And during these long, drab winters it does provide a little break from the grays outside.

This winter has been a little gray inside too... the Bertrams have settled into a routine for living retired that is not very exciting. Our days have consisted of "putzing" around at home, doing a few chores, preparing meals, doing internet searches related to hobbies, corresponding with friends via email. As the gray drizzle of winter has continued, our moods have grayed a little too-- both of us have become a little more pessimistic than we usually are. And then I caught a bad cold, and then of course so did he. Nothing like a cold to just ice the cake of an overly long, dismal winter!

So when I read the post about wearing black in winter I could certainly relate. And just about that time, Lanny and I chatted about our mutual pessimism... We decided we needed to inject a little fun into our week, and so, for the first time in awhile, we had a date. We went to the movies! Now, a lot of people go to the movies all the time, but for some reason the two of us just haven't gone to them very often. We saw "Lincoln" before Christmas, and here it is March before we go again.

Going on a Monday night assures that the theater will not be crowded, and last night was no exception. We went to see "Oz, the Great and Powerful" in 3-D no less... We donned the glasses and watched the movie holding hands like a couple of kids... and had fun. And, the movie was great-- and best of all, it was full of gorgeous, vivid color. I noticed immediately that it started out in Kansas and was shot in sepia tone-- until the main character lands in Oz. And then oh my... the special effects and scenery were dazzlingly colorful. The characters were all vividly colorful as well. The whole experience was one of vivid, bright colors.

This is from the original Wizard of Oz movie... I had originally posted a photo from the new movie, but oddly it disappeared. I suspect a copyright protection of some sort... but since the new movie set closely replicated the old one, this one works too!

When the movie was over, I felt a little like I had felt after the psychedelic scenes in "2001: A Space Odyssey"-- just completely dazzled by the brightness of it. Lanny and I both agreed the movie was very well done and exactly what we had needed. We needed the color back in our world!

Then we stepped out of the theater to walk to our car. There was a biting cold wind blowing hard snow pellets into our faces. Back to winter... ? Well yes, of course. But for awhile we were awash in color anyway, and somehow it had changed our mood. This morning it is cold and gray again... but if I look closely into those gray clouds, I think I might see a patch of pale blue??