The Color of January / 2023

Color is a significant driving force behind my motivation to create anything.

In design and painting, I’m mesmerized by the interactions of colors and how these combinations can prompt such distinct emotional responses within us.

I love analyzing the tiniest nuances of a hue, and I’m always on an obsessive mission in search of the moment when all the colors in a painting seem to click into place – the moment when things feel “right” and whole.

If the palette of a piece isn’t speaking to me, the painting doesn’t work, and I quickly abandon that idea for a new direction.

So many of the choices I make with color feel super intuitive; I’ve realized I rarely take the time to slow down and contemplate the why behind them.

I thought that conducting a Color of the Month blog series in 2023 would be a sweet exercise in giving more language to my love for this element of art.

In the process, I hope you find these picks and perspectives inspiring!

The color for January is Morning Fog, a shade of grey with green and blue and cream undertones.

It’s an overcast morning, a sun-bleached seashell (almost forgotten in the rocky tides), the cool breeze on your face as you walk outside to meet a new day...

At first, I was very reluctant to pick the name “morning fog” to kick off this series.

To associate the first month of a new year with the idea of fogginess can seem awfully dreary. Plus, I really dislike overcast days, and we rarely get them in Florida.

However, a walk on the beach at sunrise (on 1/2/23) opened my eyes to the potential of this color to symbolize something beautiful and significant for the new year.

As my husband, Jesús, and I were walking down the beach that morning, and the sun was rising slowly, a surprising amount of fog began to gracefully roll down the beach behind us, encompassing the sand and water in a blanket of stillness.

The waves were calm – the water almost like glass – and all of the animals on the beach seemed to pause in harmony for a moment of rest.

There was a tangible peace in the air that Jesús and I could feel as we kept walking, stopping every 10 or 20 feet or so to pick up an interesting shell.

When I started to search for a color to represent January, I thought of this moment on the beach.

Fog feels like a forced pause in nature, a natural reminder to slow down and look inward – unconcerned about what lies on the horizon because we can’t see that far.

And as someone who often wrestles with the concept of control and worries about the future, this metaphor touched my heart.

Throughout January, and this year as a whole, may we find more moments to pause and rest, unshaken by that which we cannot predict or control.

May we learn to appreciate and find peace through the fog.