HUM6930 – Arts & Compassion

The Color of Compassion

As an artist, color is where I begin every project. It is what attracts me to a certain subject matter. Color affects us in many ways. It can make us happy, sad, angry, fearful, calm or energetic.

Marketers employ the use of various colors to inspire customers to purchase the products they are promoting. Nature uses color as a method of attraction as well as a way to camouflage both flora and fauna. Some creatures are able to change their colors, while some like the Albino Gecko has no color at all. White is the absence of color, while black is the presence of all colors. Color is everywhere.

Fruits and vegetables are great examples of the variety of color in nature. Fall and winter varieties tend towards the browns, oranges and dark greens. While summer varieties are bright reds, yellows and bright greens. The simple bell pepper comes in multiple colors – green, yellow, red and orange. Walking through the produce department is eye candy for me and the brighter the color, the tastier it seems to be.

In this week's reading we learned about the Good Samaritan and the meaning of compassion. Marc Chagall believed the color of love is blue as evidenced in many of his paintings. His Blue Lovers shown below is a prime example.

We were asked what color signified compassion to us this week. Red signifies love and passion. White is the color of peace, goodness, purity and innocence. When you mix the two together you get pink. Compassion to me is all of those things. Loving my neighbor as I would myself. Being and doing good. Having pure intentions when helping others. And looking past what is on the surface to the innocence of the inner child in every human being. That is compassion. And compassion is pink.