Color from a dude's perspective: Intern Allen

So as a dude I had to find out why color was important, and I started where any normal male would. I dumped my Crayolas out on the table as if they were chicken bones, hoping that the answers to the universe would appear. After all, these colors had dominated my childhood, and my childhood was pretty darn fun! There had to be a correlation, and obviously--just like chicken bones--the only thing that appeared was Crayons, not answers.

It turns out that my search for color insights required more research and data (I know, big surprise!). I looked to music and more specifically to one of my all-time favorite songs: Devil with a Blue Dress. This only fueled my curiosity. I mean, why did the devil wear blue, why not purple, yellow or gold? I had to do more research…

According to the experts at wikipedia, color is an important part of human expression. If that is the case, then the 1980s were full of people expressing themselves, though I'm just not sure what they were trying to say. I read further and found that the color of bed sheets could elevate mood. This piece of information could prove useful at a later date, so I’m keeping that in my back pocket. But I still had more questions than answers…

I looked further on the Internet and found that there was color theory. Whoa! Really? Now I know that gravity is a theory, as I had seen it in play at an early age--it kept me from my dreams of flying and being Superman. Heck, gravity still keeps me from my dreams of flying and being Superman. But color theory? Maybe that didn’t explain why I couldn’t fly, but it might explain why Superman wore BLUE tights with a RED cape.

I read more, and just like music, words, or even the ingredients of your favorite dish, colors can be used to make harmony or to make racket and noise. Used properly, color can be brought together to do a multitude of things, to lift your mood and energy, to make you slimmer, to make you look younger. Color is a tool. Maybe Crayola crayons had it right: when color is used properly, you can make beauty.

I thought to myself and wanted to apologize to every art teacher I ever had, for my coloring outside of the lines and scribbling until the crayons were dust. I never learned HOW to use color. Now I know why I got the grades I got in Art!

I should have embraced color, then maybe my Valentine cards would have been better received. Maybe all those junior high dances, if I had dressed in better colors, I wouldn’t have had to hold up the wall, but instead would have been showcasing my dance moves--moves that up to that point had only been shared with my bathroom mirror. On my journey to understanding why color is important, maybe I had missed the key to my own personal style. I needed help.

Color My Closet, please help me! I’m a drab caveman who needs some color in my life.

TRYING to live in color,
Intern Allen