Is there black in your palette?

Posted by: gretchen on October 3, 2007 |

For the month of October, I wanted to start sharing some of my favorite quotes by women. If you’ve noticed in the top corner of the header, there are quotes that randomly change when the page refreshes. These are from my insanely huge collection of quotes that I have collected over the years. I like quotes. I just love it when people can capture a huge idea or an inspirational thought and then simplify it in just a few words. It amazes me.

To kick things off, I thought I’d start with a quote that is attributed to one of my favorite singers of all time, but in fact it actually came from the late Minnie Pearl as Amy Grant tells us:

“I’m thinking about a conversation we had years ago,” she says. “It was after Minnie’s stroke, and she was bedridden, but this was one of her lucid days. We were talking about light and dark. She was saying, ‘They’re both a part of life. For instance, what do you think is the most important color on an artist’s palette?’ I said I didn’t know. She said, ‘Black, of course. Without black, no color has any depth. But if you mix black with everything, suddenly there’s shadow — no, not just shadow, but fullness. You’ve got to be willing to mix black into your palette if you want to create something that’s real.’”

I just love that quote. As a designer, I love any kind of artistic references but this one is especially moving. In order to be real, we have to mix the dark in with the light. In order to have any kind of depth (think maturity, character), we have to experience the bad along with the good. If we haven’t, we are merely a bunch of pastel colors on a canvas with no shadow, no depth to our character. Without some black mixed into our lives, we’re shallow. We’re not real.

Oh and in case you have no clue who Amy is, here’s your chance to sample her work…Yesterday, Amy Grant released a Greatest Hits Special Edition CD with a bonus DVD containing 5 videos. It actually arrived in my mailbox a few days ago (thanks to the perks of being in the fan club - the only fan club I subscribe to), but I’ve not even had a chance to break the seal on it until this morning. I decided to shred the cellophane and pop the DVD into my drive for a little inspiration. I had forgotten how awesome the “Lead Me On” video is! Fortunately, YouTube has a copy of it for me to share with you. The scenery is just fantastic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNl7Vo_mt0A

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26 Responses to “Is there black in your palette?”

Pages: « 1 2 [3] Show All

  1. 21. Kel1 Says:
    October 13th, 2007 at 7:11 pm

    In the quote above by Minnie Pearl (as stated by Amy Grant), I thought that the color black was referred to as having “depth.” I didn’t find it negative at all.

    Gretchen, you’ve mentioned storm clouds, etc, and imani has said that even those things can be positive. I agree with both of those. In the quote above, I felt she was referring to the fact that even with storm clouds (which some associate with negativity), there is rain, which is a positive thing. She was, in my opinion, saying we need to take all of our experiences and create depth in our lives. She was saying there’s no use in being shallow. At least, that is what it speaks to me.

  2. 22. imani Says:
    October 15th, 2007 at 10:53 am

    lol, interesting.
    Gretchen there is no way you actually think that unless you’re not in your right mind. So i get it, you want to end the convo. Great quote, i just dont like when ppl associate black w/negativity. But honestly, at this point I dont even care anymore. So whatev…

  3. 23. gretchen Says:
    October 15th, 2007 at 11:12 am

    Actually, I’m left-handed which means I’m always in my right mind. ;)

  4. 24. imani Says:
    October 15th, 2007 at 11:16 am

    …clever…8-|

  5. 25. reba Says:
    October 22nd, 2007 at 3:07 pm

    Great entry. I have always loved this quote. The video is also one of my favorites! It is just so pretty.
    I just did a series of posts on Amy. A review, photos from events, etc. inrebasworld.com

  6. 26. gretchen Says:
    October 24th, 2007 at 8:25 am

    Thanks Reba! That was a great review and your pictures were awesome. :x

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