Lots has been said about what a particular colors says ABOUT us, but what if we changed the question, and asked what a color might be saying TO us? What if every color in a collage had a secret missive, a personal message meant only for us, to guide us? In precisely the situation we find ourselves right now?
That's the question I wanted to explore in this week's blog and I chose my collage, "Chicken!" to use an experiment/example.
One of the exercises I have my students do, in live or journaling classes is to make a list of the colors in their collages, then I have them list the essences or meaning of those colors hold FOR THEM. Once they've identified the essences, I have them tell what significance that essence might have for them in their current life situation.
In the above collage, my colors were grey, brown, white, green and red. When I wrote down what they meant to me, (and I always have students write in stream of consciousness, as I have here) I came up with:
In the above collage, my colors were grey, brown, white, green and red. When I wrote down what they meant to me, (and I always have students write in stream of consciousness, as I have here) I came up with:
     | Grey: (to me) equates a sense of somber, of in-between time, not trying to "show my colors" neither this, nor that, a "resting" color. A napping color. Brown: (to me) represents earth and soil, and rest. Again, like grey, it's a "resting" color. White: is the color of clarity, of certainty. It is the color of aha's, of epiphanies and insights. Green: (and here's where it gets interesting, as proportionately, there's very little green in the piece, and yet green had a LOT to say to me!) Green signifies growth, forest, fecundity, as well as respite, solace (though not necessarily solitude). It's also the color of secret gardens, and trails you can hide away in. And Kudzu. Red: signifies passion, but more importantly blood, and life-force. But -physical- life force, as in muscle and sinew, not the more spiritual life force of energy and chi. |
Next, I -could've- taken the meanings I'd come up with to let them reveal the essences or medicines a particular collage is bringing into my life. That's one way of working with colors. But I prefer to work from the premise that each collage we create, just like a dream, is speaking to our lives, right now, as they are unfolding. So that any image, character or color we see in a piece is a divinely placed message TO us for THIS particular moment in time.
If I were teaching this as an exercise, I would have students link the essences, in the order they had written them, to see if there were a chronological message inherent within them. When I look at my essence-messages, I read about a:
Period of rest (grey) followed by more rest (brown) moving into clarity (white) resulting in growth (green) and the return of life-force (red).
Next, I would have my students tell of how these particular messages speak to their current life situations. This reading is pretty significant to me as in my own life, I'm moving out of a DEEP period of rest (grey) in the desert (brown) as I recover from open heart surgery two years ago, and have decided (white-clarity) to move with my partner back to her native Florida (can you GET more green???) which, if I'm to believe the collage gods (which I always, ALWAYS do) will lead to a renewed Life-Force (red).
See how it works? Now go try it out on one of YOUR collages, and let me know what you find! And if you'd like to embark on a collage/writing intensive, I invite you to join me in the next 21-Day (virtual) Journaling with Collage Course beginning May 1st. Click here for easy registration. Hope to see you there!
In Love and Light -
Dante
If I were teaching this as an exercise, I would have students link the essences, in the order they had written them, to see if there were a chronological message inherent within them. When I look at my essence-messages, I read about a:
Period of rest (grey) followed by more rest (brown) moving into clarity (white) resulting in growth (green) and the return of life-force (red).
Next, I would have my students tell of how these particular messages speak to their current life situations. This reading is pretty significant to me as in my own life, I'm moving out of a DEEP period of rest (grey) in the desert (brown) as I recover from open heart surgery two years ago, and have decided (white-clarity) to move with my partner back to her native Florida (can you GET more green???) which, if I'm to believe the collage gods (which I always, ALWAYS do) will lead to a renewed Life-Force (red).
See how it works? Now go try it out on one of YOUR collages, and let me know what you find! And if you'd like to embark on a collage/writing intensive, I invite you to join me in the next 21-Day (virtual) Journaling with Collage Course beginning May 1st. Click here for easy registration. Hope to see you there!
In Love and Light -
Dante
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