Grey.

Grey.

Overlooked, and often grumbled about, by me.  You don't have to look far within this blog to find me complaining about dumb old boring grey.

It gets a bad rap most of the time.  It's the muddy shade you end up with when mixing all your old leftover paint together; the color of naval ships, scratchy old wool, parking lots, badly-done laundry, the ashes left after the embers have cooled.  It's the color of winter in the Pacific Northwest: the dull absence of bright, cheerful color purportedly responsible for our high rates of depression, madness, suicide.

What grey does, however, is make every other shade around it seem that much more exciting, beautiful, and dramatic.

I was reminded of this recently on a visit to Long Beach, WA.

It says, "Hey, don't mind me, I'm just Grey.  But check these other colors out!"  It's sort of selfless that way.  Thanks, Grey.

I've gone on here many times before about my love for our Northwest beaches in the wintertime.  It's just part of me, inside me.  I feel whole again when I hear the surf roar and that icy wind whips across my face, the wet sand and seafoam blows across my boots. 

A few days later, on a ferry ride from Seattle, I was struck again by the beauty and drama of a dull grey day.

Grey skies, grey water, grey city.

Dull, grey winter.  Flamboyant gorgeousness incognito.

Comments

[kathy]

I adore grey too! For the same reasons you mentioned. It's a buffer to the bold, bright, saturated colors I love so much. I think grey makes me love them in a whole new way. Grey is a great mediator but also can be so awesome on it's own, several shades of it! I love just pencil sketches because I love the shades of graphite too (and the texture)! Thanks for talking about grey, Beth!! :D