Purple!

“Purple is not a real color!”

That’s what people told me in the 60’ when I was a child. How could they say that? To me it was clearly a color on it’s own, distinct from red and blue. But no, no matter how I questioned their opinion or argued against it, they still didn’t see it as a color. “Weird old people”, I thought.

One statement was that it wasn’t a natural color. So I went into nature and found it all over the place. To me it was more difficult to find truly blue or red flowers. I saw different shades of purple everywhere! Not just in flowers, but also in grass and moss and stones and shells. I saw it in the grays of shadows, and I saw it in the sky, and I saw it in the rainbow …

I told them I saw purple in nature. They told me it still wasn’t a real color, just a mix of red and blue.

“Then what about green”, I asked. “It’s both yellow and blue mixed together?!” “Oh, green!” they would reply. “Green is a beautiful natural color and has nothing to do with purple!” Sigh!

Another opinion was that purple was a color that was used and liked by only unreal people like artists and weirdos! Really!!! “C’mon”, I thought, “you just can’t say that!” But they did. And I started wearing purple. Not that I’m a weirdo or anything like that, but I needed to defend The Purple.

The Purple Enigma led me to study colors in my early teens. I learned that it’s been around for a long time. The first purple dye was made from snail mucus! That was during the time of Old Greece and Alexander the Great. In Rome it was the color of the emperor and later a color used by the church. It was a color associated with royalty and piety.

Why didn’t old people see it as a color on its own? Maybe they didn’t see it, maybe they saw blue or red? Maybe there’s just too many purple hues! Or maybe they lived in a Sepia toned world?

Hmmm? Maybe I am a weirdo? A Purple Weirdo! Fine, I can live with that! I love purple, but it’s not my favorite color because I have no favorite color! There’s a time and a place for every color!
Here’s to ALL colors!

~ Marina, The Purple Lady

P.S. The three colors in the top photo are all different purples! My camera saw them as more blue …

I have posted the Purple Felted Swirly Hearts for sale on my Etsy!