The color wheel is spinning around! Today's color of choice?
LAVENDER.
I know: collective oohs and ahhs from the crowd. Get ready for some serious color-induced relaxation. I saw Lavender most commonly associated with two things during my internet travels: (1) relaxation and peace, and (2) decadence.
Also, back in the day, Lavender was the "in-between" mourning color for women. After a certain amount of time you could stop wearing all black and then wear Lavender and other sober, muted tones. (via Wikipedia. Obviously. If you've read my other Color Wheel posts, you know by now that I love the quick Wikication.)
Also, back in the day, Lavender was the "in-between" mourning color for women. After a certain amount of time you could stop wearing all black and then wear Lavender and other sober, muted tones. (via Wikipedia. Obviously. If you've read my other Color Wheel posts, you know by now that I love the quick Wikication.)
And here's one I didn't see coming: lavender is tied closely to homosexuality and various political movements regarding homosexuality. This dates from the late 1800s onward. During less...evolved times, a "streak of lavender" referred to a "sissy" or man with feminine characteristics. (According to Wikipedia, Carl Sandburg used this term to describe young Abraham Lincoln. Okay?) "Lavender boys" refers to homophiles, or people who support and feel positively about homosexuality. A "dash of lavender" is used to describe a heterosexual person with homosexual tendencies.
All in all, a fascinating color. It's associated with: peace, decadence, in-between mourning, and homosexuality. We're talking about a color that can inspire a wide variety of emotion depending on its context. AKA: a writer's dream color.
Presenting: Lavender.
Definition: a pale purple. To be specific, the color of the palest part of the lavender flower.
Shades: lavender blush, lavender mist, languid lavender, lavender gray, lavender blue, wisteria, pale plum, heliotrope, floral lavender, amethyst, purple mountains majesty (a la Crayola), twilight lavender.
The Photo Inspiration
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The Prompts
1. Choose one of the many shades of Lavender to serve as your title. Let that color dictate the tone of your poem. Example: "Lavender Mist" might be a poem ethereal and mysterious, secretive yet at peace.
2. Choose a Lavender photo. Free write for 15 minutes about it. Try to describe every minute detail you see. Make sure you are using simile and metaphor for each description in order to bring your artistic gaze into focus. Don't let yourself off easy, and don't stop by saying "deeply purple flowers" -- try aiming for something a little outside your comfort zone, like "kiss-bruised lips purse on every waving frond, every blossom whispering". Get the idea? Use those images to craft a future poem, or write a piece using lavender imagery.
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| Read more of Alexandria's work on Floodmark. |
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