the power of color

Most days my heart beats purple. A deep rich purple with a little more magenta tint than blue. In the last week it has beat blue, a deep soulful navy, with tears running through my veins instead of blood. Today, it beats olive green with a river of yellow muck, calcium and cholesterol, running through my veins.

A couple of weeks ago, an artist named Jose, from St. Mary's Center in Oakland, visited my liberation art class. He was never formally trained, but his artwork of dug into my psyche. What I learned from him struck a deeper chord with me than most of what I learned in my "formal" art training. He showed me what it is like to live the spiritual life of an artist. To absorb life and let it run out of your fingertips onto the page. His life had been transformed by his work because he was open to the process.

I have been involved in a life long love affair with color, but Jose showed me how to deepened my commitment to color, to take our relationship to the next level. Lately, I intellectualize color too much, the sin of the way I use my education. Jose reminded me that color is soul. Color is spirit. Color is communication when there are no words, no pictures, no symbols for what we have to say.

So today, my heart beats olive green, the color of my anxiety, my feelings about my dad's illness and the implications for my own health. My heart beats olive green, the color of the grass in my home in winter. My heart beats olive green.