Tuesday, March 16, 2010

And it was all YELLOW

I hate the color yellow.

Sure, go on about how cheerful a color it is, how it brings sunshine into your life, how it automatically makes people feel all rainbow-y and unicorn-y.

Hate it.  99% of the time, it trends towards mustard baby poop yellow (lighter and darker shades thereof) or ooey gooey baby-nursery-yellow (lighter and darker shades thereof).  Our house, lovingly (and creatively!) named The Yellow House, is one of the ugliest shades on the planet:  the color of congealed banana pudding blended with stomach bile. 

Fine:  yes it is a signature color of both Cezanne and Matisse, it evokes the baking heat of Southern France, and one could scarcely make a dijon vinaigrette without it.

Yes, and now you mention it,  the memories of vast fields of rapeseed in springtime England, with bright flowers transferring their glow onto your t-shirt and winter-pale skin DO stick in my mind.

On one of our college-era adventures.  Somewhere in the wilds of Berkshire.

 Oh.......... and the daffodils.

In the ugly pseudo-modern planned community of Bracknell, some bright minded bureaucrat (probably quite junior) came up with a plan for establishing huge swathes of daffodil fields on the roundabouts, on the embankments of council housing and even in the grim town center shopping district. Sheer genius:  paint the town with the shade of sunshine, and they'll never notice they don't have any.

I might not make it through March without the daffodils.

Just when you think you Will. Not. Survive. one more cold gray day, you notice a small bunch of narcissus at the grocery store checkout.    The yellow of a daffodil works its way right into your cold gray heart, and promises the thaw that's coming. 

This has been a particularly bleak March - full of gray days and lots of storms, both inside and out.  I have never been more grateful to welcome a little bit of yellow back into our lives.

15 comments:

Emily@remodelingthislife said...

count me in as one of those annoying people that finds yellow all things wonderful and cheerful :)

kirsten said...

SEE!! *So many* of my favorite people love yellow - I almost had to admit in the post that I suspect something is wrong with me. But I figure I'll save the self-flagellation for another post. ;)

Cheryl said...

Love yellow! But not baby-poop yellow. Altho I'll take THAT over baby-poop flourescent green.

Anyway, glad to see you're back posting and that it sounds like spring may finally have sprung for you all.

Momfluential said...

I have issues with yellow too. They are not, however, my own. My mother is a yellow hater. From the time I was a baby I was told that blondes look terrible in yellow (no yellow clothes for me) and that yellow ruins everything. For example, a white wall. Heaven forbid it reflect yellow because that was the end of it. Yellow = bad. To this day I find myself constructing elaborate tales about my wall color. It's custard. It's parchment. It's not yellow mom. I don't know WHAT you are talking about. I've spent so much time convincing her that she doesn't hate it, that now I do. Sigh.

I get it. Purple crocus anyone?

Lori-Anne said...

To me, yellow is only half a step up from pink, my worst colour of all. And wouldn't you know but I went ahead and married a guy who loves yellow and am now forced to drive around town in a yellow SUV (it came with the guy). Like a big, giant ray of sunshine. Which I'm not. Oliver also seems to be partial to yellow. All I need now is for Amélie to love pink and I'll be set.

LoveFeast Table said...

I was once going to paint a room yellow. I had at least 20 paint chips up on the wall, waiting for them to speak to me. Yellow can go wrong, seriously wrong. If it comes in the form of buttery yellow, okay...or creamy, calfskin soft yellow, nice...but some have that hint of green that turns quickly into a color mamas with newborns know all too well. I am with you though, I'm lovin' yellow right now! Daffodils are on my table! I'm ready to force my forsythias! Come on spring!
~kristin

joya said...

i'm thinking you wouldn't like my house then... lol!

i like yellow. not super love it in all forms... but i like it, in the right shade, or right print or right medium.

oh and i love less of the sunshine yellow and more of the mustard / curry / saffron yellows...

can we still be friends? ;)

BUT guess what color flower i HATE and will not put in my garden ever... (unless it was planted from previous owner) YELLOW.

Ciaran- i think that part of the anti-yellow flower thing is passed on from my mom.

yellow therapy?

Harold of Scaggsville said...

"I love gollllllllld." --Goldmember (M. Myers)

Anonymous said...

Great entry. You just might notice a teeny tiny homage in my blog entry today. ;)

Dana @ Bungalow'56 said...

Too funny, I'm not really a yellow fan either, yet my dining room and kitchen are definitely a muted hue of it. I too posted today about how long the winter has been, and I do not have any flowers to help.
I too collect artists for friends although I've never thought of it before. I will be back to see what else we have in common.
Thanks for blogging. I will be following : )
Dana

angela | the painted house said...

You are a HOOT! Love this post and so glad that I'm connected with your blog now.

Moxie said...

Re-reading this post today. I like yellow for its cheerful disposition but don't buy any clothing/accessories in this color. I want my kitchen decked out in sunflower yellow and cobalt blue but just read that food looks horrible against yellow plates...and I have been wanting to buy 4 more Fiestaware place settings in sunflower yellow for a few years now. Not sure if I should just say "screw it" and buy them anyway, or go with a peachy color, which was my backup plan many years ago. Hmph.

An American Mom said...

I love it lately ,but only because it means to me that maybe soon winter will be over.
I've never given it a try in my own home, but I gotta admit on TV those sun-drenched kitchens with yellow kitchens look so cheerful to me, I've been thinking about buying some of the safe Milk Paint and giving it a go.Glad to find your blog. Newbie site owner and loving finding so many moms that share same interests!
HealthyBabiesandKids.com

kirsten said...

Thanks, American Mom, for stopping by! I'm sure the milk paint would probably make it a gorgeous shade of yellow - one that even I could embrace. ;)

Alexandra said...

I have learned to love yellow.

It was not my favorite color, until I hit this side of 40.

Now...it makes me smile.

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