The Color of December / 2023
This article marks the final edition of my year-long project, Color of the Month! What a sweet feeling to successfully reach the end of a twelve-month challenge.
I'm pleased to introduce you to December's color: Midnight.
Midnight is a rich, deep navy blue.
It's the color of the sea at nighttime, the waves crashing under a full moon. It's the backdrop to a starry sky, a familiar color in the nativity story.
Midnight feels like rest at the end of a long day, with the promise of something new on the horizon – not unlike the ending and arrival of another year.
Although it took me a while to land on this color for December (February and July already made use of more traditional Christmas colors), Midnight turned out to be the perfect way to close this final chapter of my project and the last month of 2023.
Throughout this year, the motif I've seen occurring the most in my artwork has been waves.
I've seen this in the washes of watered-down paint that I've spilled across my canvases and the repetitive marks that I loop around and around in patterns that resemble these rhythms of the sea.
Aside from my physical location near the ocean, the inspiration behind this theme seems to have come from the lessons God's been teaching me.
Bible stories like that of Jesus walking on water and Jesus calming the waves on the Sea of Galilee have been front of mind all year long as reminders to release control and trust in God as I've walked through tough seasons.
Rembrandt's depiction of the later story with his work The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (perhaps my favorite painting of all time) has also been instrumental in these lessons – and I keep an image of it on my phone's lock screen.
While contemplating 2023, I thought of these recurring Bible stories that continue to shape me and Rembrandt's painting – the central color in all these is Midnight.
It's in the night sky that hung above Jesus while he walked on water and in the dark waves that crashed over the disciples' boat before Jesus calmed the sea.
At the start of this project, I picked the color Morning Fog to represent January and related the soft gray-blue to an impactful experience on the beach one morning.
Morning Fog represented the beginning of something new, and the hazy air brought with it a gentle reminder to pause, slow down, and look inward – unconcerned about what lay on the horizon.
This intention stayed with me all year.
Now that I've reached the final month of December and the end of this series, I can see that these lessons will only continue as I move into 2024 and all the new projects and artwork to come.
I see that practicing rest and releasing control are life-long pursuits. I will always be learning to trust God with my life.
So rather than close this project and this year with something finite, I opted for the beautiful symbolism of Midnight instead.
When we see this color in the wild this month - in the nativity scenes and cold and dark skies of wintertime – may we feel encouraged to see hope at the end and beginning of another year.
P.S. Scroll all the way to the bottom of this post for a special bonus message. ;)
The Storm on the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt van Rijn
My painting, Storm on the sea of Galilee (sold)
Hey there! Thank you so much for following along with my Color of the Month series!
I began this 12-month challenge for 2023 with three goals in mind. I wanted to:
Grow as a writer so I can more confidently share about my work, creative process, and inspiration.
Offer my audience and collectors a new and exciting way to appreciate color (the element of art that lights me up).
Bring something fresh and inspiring to the blog each month for you to enjoy.
I feel so proud of the progress I've seen in all three areas, and I hope you've felt this as well!
While this project has officially ended, I will begin a new 12-month series next year! I can't wait to share more about this idea. To stay in the loop on this, be sure to join my email list HERE if you haven't already.
Lastly...
You didn't think I'd finish this project without a Color of the Month–inspired art collection, did you?!
I'll be releasing new small works on paper inspired by each color in this series in the next week or two, so be sure to watch for those if you're interested in owning a tangible piece of this project. I would be honored to share this collection with you.
Thank you again, and we'll talk soon!
– Anna
