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confessions of a Color Junkie, part 3

Purple, or “violet”, as it is more correctly called, is a color I haven’t liked very well most of my life. A few years ago, something changed, and I began to crave periwinkle, that almost blue shade of violet. Think lupine, brodeia, dutch iris. . .  Someone told me that as we age, the cones in our eyes see purple better than when we were young. Oh-oh – is that the reason? (Brings to mind that poem “When I am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple”.) While on our photo trip over Yokohl, I was knitting a sweater in that wonderful bluey purple color; I actually asked Michael to stop next to a lupine so I could hold the sweater out the window and compare the colors. I was thrilled to see they were an exact match! (You just never know what will set off a color junkie.) I have found that to be a difficult color to mix, working only with the primaries, that has been a difficult color to mix. I finally asked Diana Moses Botkin about it, and she advised me just to buy a tube of violet! Wow – if she says it is okay, it must be! Just one other thing – I’ve noticed many men refer to burgundy or maroon as “purple”! I wonder why. . . can’t get a helpful explanation other than “It looks purple to me!”

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Sweater colored lupine (ok, I might have messed around with the color in this photo!)

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Periwinkle, the plant (also known as the dreaded invasive vinca major)

 

1 Comment

  1. When I was one of your students the computer was the enemy for the most part….and now you’re playing with photo editing and manipulation!!?? Now I really need to make good on my promise to visit.

    p.s. I go to school with Jim Entz’s son! It’s a pretty small world i’d say….


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