periwinkle & amethyst

 

Joan Mitchell  Clearing, 1973. Oil on canvas, 110 1/4 x 236 inches (280.035 x 599.44 cm). © Estate of Joan Mitchell.

Dear Y'all,

Yes, I did quit my job, but there are still 17 weeks to go, and so I apply myself to the study of color as might be interesting to Others.  I like to mention the dubious Color of The Year, as defined by Pantone and its think tank of bankers.  Well, I don't know if they are bankers, they could be any number of things; it says here they 'observe' the color globally, in the months before.  Anyway, it's periwinkle this year, and so I want to send you to this lovely meditation on vinca, pigment history, poison, art history, and color.  

I also want to give you the song of the day:  Love Will Tear Us Apart, in a beautiful cover by Amythyst Kiah.

In a Brown Study.

Untitled, 1954. Oil on canvas, 72 x 68 inches (182.9 x 172.7 cm).

Collection of the Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York. - See more at:

Joan Mitchell Foundation.

Dear Reader,

I must meet you, and soon. I have a plan.  We can meet in a place I will call The Brown Study.  At the dark end of the street.  It will be small, but there will be space for you, and welcome. 

I read this article by Ann Patchett, and I saw clearly what I must do, just as I was compelled to write to you here, to try to persuade you to read and see and taste and try certain wonderful things in the world, I must open a bookshop where I can put some of these wonders directly into your hands. 

When you visit The Brown Study we will greet you quietly, wait a respectful number of minutes before we ask if you would like some help or recommendations, and should you purchase a volume,  we will lovingly wrap it up for you, in kraft paper and string.

We will only have the good ones, of course, and there will be plenty of used books, and they will lie together on the shelves, in good comradeship, like you and I.  If you are looking, though, for electronic books, we will have to shake our heads in pity and sorrow, because we will not carry those. 



See you soon, my dears!






PS
This link, will paint you a fascinating picture of what has been meant, throughout written history, by the word 'brown.'  Do not miss the links for part two, and three.


PPS
Where did I say the shop will be, again?  Here, and here, and right here.