Tuesday, October 25, 2011

And then there's Cockatoo

Here are the three main colors I'll be working with for the Spring/Summer 2012 Color Report.  From left to right we have Driftwood, Sweet Lilac, and Sodalite Blue.  

A visit from the Snot Monster at the beginning of the month followed by a 10 day migraine cluster have left me woefully behind on my projects so I haven't had time to photograph the project I'm working on.  I'm using Driftwood, with Sweet Lilac as the secondary color, and accents of Cabaret, a deep rich fuchsia.  I'm making a slightly modified version of Beki Haley's "Twinkle, Twinkle" necklace.  If you click on the link it will take you to Beki's kit page and that will give you an idea of what I'm making.  


This link will take you to the Pantone website where you can see all the Spring/Summer 2012 colors and take a brief color survey.


I've always said that I like and can work with all colors.  Not true.  I don't think I'll ever be able to work with Cockatoo.  I absolutely hate this color.  Hate it!  In my mind this is the color of sickness and fear.



When I was 4-6 years old my Mom was in and out of hospitals having all sorts of scary, hush-hush, and mysterious surgeries.  My brother and I would come home from school and she would just be gone.  One of my Grandmother's widowed sisters would be there to take care of us; my Dad would come home late from work every night after visiting hours were over and then spend most of the weekends at the hospital, but we would never allowed to visit her.  Even after she came home we weren't allowed to see her, the bedroom door was always closed.  And every time she came home from the hospital she would have all these plastic bedside accessories;  a small water pitcher, soap box, toothbrush holder, etc. and they were this exact color.  

I find my own reaction completely astonishing; four decades later and I still can't look at this color without getting upset.
  

3 comments:

  1. No wonder you hate it! I wouldn't even try to work in a little.

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  2. Colors cockatoos come in:
    White
    White with yellow
    Peachish white
    Grey, white and pink
    Black and red

    Colors no cockatoo in nature has ever been: that shade. WTH, Pantone? I'm pretty sure there's not a single parrot that comes in that color... MAYBE a rare mutation of ringneck parakeet?

    (What, stop looking at me that way, my family used to raise birds)

    On-topic, I love Twinkle-Twinkle.

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  3. Hi KipperCat! Welcome aboard! Maybe someday I'll be able to use it in little amounts when I can see it in some other context.

    I'm not looking at you strangely, AJ. My brother has been raising all sorts of exotic birds, parakeets, pigeons, chickens, turkeys, etc., for 30+ years. I agree, "Cockatoo" is a strange and silly name for that color. "Ick" is so much better, but I doubt if that would go down well in the fashion world. ;-)

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