Purple Craze

(Raindrops on a flower petal. Photo by Robin. 2007)

My one and only color request is for the color purple.

I thought purple would be easy because it just so happens purple is my favorite color. That should mean that I have lots and lots of photos of purple. Right?

Wrong. Purple is rarer than I thought. It’s not that I can’t find it anywhere, but it’s not nearly as abundant in life as the greens, reds, yellows, blues, and browns. Even the grays put in more appearances than purple. Perhaps that’s what makes it so special — its rarity.

(Lilacs. Photo by Robin. 2007)

Purple is a complicated color, a combination of cool blue and red hot. There are many varieties of purple including imperial (Tyrian) purple, royal purple, and generic or vulgar purple. Tyrian purple was used by the Romans and Egyptians as a symbol of royalty. The dye was made from a mullusk and it was expensive to make so only the very wealthy could afford anything colored with this dye.

(Deep purple tulip. Photo by Robin. 2007)

Royal purple is a bluer shade of purple used in medieval Europe. Once again, the dyes were much too expensive for the working class and so the color was worn mostly by the medieval kings and queens.

(Photo by Robin. 2007)

Generic or vulgar purple is the color of grape jelly. During the 1920’s, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were associated with the working class and the most popular jelly (thanks to Welch’s) was grape.

(These are not grapes. Photo by Robin. 2006)

Eggplant, plum, violet, lilac, mulberry, wine, and lavender are some of the many shades of purple.

(Lavender. Photo by Robin. 2007)

Purple is associated with spirituality, meditation, and healing.

(Photo by Robin. 2006)

It’s a color that’s often used to symbolize magic and mystery.

(Magical Mummers. Photo by Robin. 2007)

Violet, part of the purple family, is the color of the Crown chakra, located at the top of the head and associated with intuition, knowing, spirituality and integration.

(Violets. Photo by Robin. 2007)

Wearing purple will encourage fantasy, imagination, and mystery.

(My other pair of Best Socks in the Universe. Photo by Robin. 2006)

I associate purple with some of the first flowers of spring (hyacinths, tulips, woodland violets, lilacs). Purple is often paired with a rosy pink to create colorful sunsets in the Bogs.

(A purple evening in the Bogs. Photo by Robin. 2007)

It was the purple combined with the rosy pink that inspired M and I to paint the back of our house entirely different colors from the front and sides.*

(The back of my home at moonrise/sunset. Photo by Robin. 2006)

Our bedroom is color-washed in purple, too.

(Photo by Robin. 2006)

I can’t think of anything else to say about purple right now. I’m sure I’ll come up with all sorts of clever things once I’ve hit the Publish button. In the meantime, here are few more photos of purple for your viewing pleasure. If that’s not enough, be sure to visit this website to soak in some more of this wonderful color.

(Water lily. Photo by Robin. 2007)

(A rather blurry purple bird. National Aviary. Photo by Robin. 2006)

(The Purple Quit Fairy. Photo by Robin. 2006)

The Purple Quit Fairy was given to me by a very dear friend when I quit smoking. Our smoking quits crossed paths many times and the Purple Quit Fairy kept us both on the right track when the cravings were calling for a detour.

(A blanket of purple on the Woodland Trail. Photo by Robin. 2007)

(A yellow moon in a purple sky. Photo by Robin. 2006)

(Wisteria. Photo by Robin. 2007)

Purple lovers are generally blessed by a true sense of values. Here genius is often found, but genius that never promotes itself. One of their greatest charms lies in the sublime quality of their minds: an abiding wisdom which they never attempt to force on others.

~ Faber Birren




*The front and sides are a respectable gray even though we don’t care about being respectable when it comes to house colors. It’s just that we didn’t think of the sunset colors until we were out in the paddle boat on the pond one evening at sunset, watching the glow of the setting sun in the windows of the house and one of us said, “Wouldn’t it be cool to paint the back of the house in the colors of the sky at sunset?” (I’m pretty certain that someone would have been me as I’m somewhat less respectable than my husband.) By that time we’d already painted the front and sides of the house (it was a major fixer-upper when we bought it) so, from street level, it all looks so “normal.” You have to step around to the back to see the true wonder of our imaginations. Quite frankly, the photo I posted doesn’t do it justice, but it’s close to being a good representation.

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