I know, I know, I’m supposed to call it “violet.” None of the other artists would ever tell me why, so I’m going to keep saying “Purple” just to embarrass them. And anyway, it just sounds better for this post. I also could have titled it, “The Deranged Esoteric Musings of a Color Connoisseur,” or worse, “My Purple Problem,” but that would be just too weird. . . . I’m really asking for it, aren’t I? ;)

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Ever since I was a little girl, the color Purple has had me in a quandary. Have you ever felt that way with Purple? Where you just can’t quite put your finger on what it’s trying to tell you? It’s so tempting, yet so elusive. Well, I’ve been there. And I’ve grappled with the very issue of the enigmatic hue myself. So the other day I took the plunge. I bought a purple cardigan, spent an entire day wearing it, and by that night I figured out this whole Purple thing once and for all. Care to hear about my findings?

Here we go!

Each Color causes an emotional response. For example, Blue evokes a cool, calm peacefulness. Yellow can symbolize fear; Orange, anger; and Green, life. Pink implies weakness, softness, or femininity, while Red shouts passion, energy, ardor, and warmth. But what about Purple? In nature as well as the commercial world, you may have noticed that Purple is one of the least used colors. Why is this, and what does Purple mean, anyway? Before I go into this further, let’s take a quick look at color theory.

When looking at any single primary color, it communicates a solid, easy-to-read message. But combine two primary colors to make a secondary color and you get a slightly more complex message. (And of course Purple is a secondary color, a combination of Blue and Red.) All the other colors in between have even more discreet emotions.

So why is the color Purple so often passed over? I think it is because the specific emotion that Purple communicates is hard to pin down: juxtaposing Blue and Red, they communicate the most opposite and contrasting messages of all the colors.

If Blue is peaceful and calming, and Red is passionate and unceasingly energetic, then surely the union of these polar opposites would result in a clashing of ideas. It is a vacillating attempt to justify the equal strengths of Blue and Red. This delicate balance of mystery is what we find so enthralling: Purple is ultimately a fascinating suspension with no resolve.

All that from a wavelength of 400 nanometers, and a cardigan. :)

Lucy and Tumnus by Pauline Baynes

May I say that I simply love black and white art work?  Especially Pauline Baynes’ pen-and-ink style.  Pauline Baynes (the illustrator for the original Chronicles of Narnia) has such a wonderful style; there’s much I could learn from her—not to copy, mind you, but to enhance my own style.

In this piece by Pauline Baynes I can see she has already slightly influenced my work; my “Tree House” comes to mind.  What I love most about her style I can’t say.  For starters, I love the fluidity and liveliness of it.  Her lines are living and breathing.   I can hear the clinks of the crude tableware, and smell the aromas of the earthy fare.

Secondly, you can tell the characters are her personal friends: they, too, are alive.  Thirdly, every detail is taken into account and utilized for the overall composition and aesthetic environment.   Fourthly, her cross-hatching.  I simply can’t get enough of her cross-hatching! It may have been this signature element of her work that first caught my eye and snagged my heart.

Even with color added, her work is simply wonderful.  After I’m finished working on my *current projects,* I will hopefully get to experiment with pen and ink again, of course with Pauline Baynes by my side.

crunch, crunch, crunch

I write poetry.  Occasionally.

And I can’t wait to go to the beach.

Poem Copyright © Breezy Brookshire 2010

I have met many wonderful women who are committed homemakers.  These godly women love serving their families in the home and desire to teach their daughters to do likewise.

But there’s something interesting that these women also have in common:  They were not taught how to care for a family and run a household.  They were not raised to be keepers at home.  And now these women are dedicated to giving their daughters the skills they had to learn on the job.

So , it is with great joy I’d like to announce a new website called . . .

Raising Homemakers

This website is the brain child of my sweet friend Sarah Mae who has a heart for equipping women to be all that God has called them to be.  In Sarah’s own words, Raising Homemakers “is dedicated to inspiring, teaching and blessing mothers who have an interest in raising their daughter in godliness and preparing them in the arts of homemaking to the glory of God.”

So get ready to join us as we roll up our sleeves and get busy!

I was recently discussing with some dear friends the subject of stay-at-home-daughters and time.  We talked about all the things we hope to learn and skills we want to have before entering marriage.  Beyond the basic skills of cleaning the home, caring for children, sewing, cooking wholesome meals and decorating cakes, there is a vast world of other useful skills that stay-at-home-daughters have time to learn.

As young women not yet married, we have the responsibility to become as well-rounded and useful as we can be.  Right now you probably don’t have the full care of running the home—this is an excellent opportunity to prepare yourself for the rest of your life.  The more helpful skills we acquire, the more useful, the more of a blessing we will be to our future husbands and families.

Think of these skills as an Invisible Hope Chest.

Your husband could have any kind of job: mechanic, business owner, economics professor, etc.—are you studied in many areas to be able to help him in whatever his calling may be?  Your family may someday have special diet issues—would you know enough about nutrition to accommodate those needs?  Could you start a homestead or home business from scratch and live self-sufficiently?  Do you plan to home-educate your children?  Are you collecting excellent books for them to read?  How do you plan to raise them to become God-fearing and useful men and women?

There is a host of other things to learn as well.  Systematic theology (there’s enough there to keep you constantly in awe for the rest of your life!), finances and banking, how to keep everything in the home running smoothly together, history, English, a foreign language, herbal medicine, science, home birth, and even some carpentry skills will be found quite useful.  And how are your communication skills?

How are you filling your invisible hope chest?  Perhaps you haven’t started on it yet, but what would you like to fill it with?

I go through this season a few times every year.  The pace of life seems to quicken, and one must constantly re-evaluate the most important things.  Perhaps you know exactly what I mean. :)

I’ve made three lists.  A list of all the things I want to do; a list of all the things that absolutely must be done; and a list of things to remove from the first list, especially if the want-to-do’s are distracting from the must-be-dones.

And my, what a list of must-be-dones!  There’s homemaking, NRP, art projects, art lessons, piano for church, and the garden.  Life is wonderful, but sometimes it’s so fast and overflowing!

I would really like to share a few of my notes from the Father & Daughter Retreat from last weekend.  (We had a wonderful trip down to Georgia, by the way.)  But until then, I highly recommend making a list of your most important things and the things that hinder you from accomplishing them.  This has been helpful for me!

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” - Ephesians 5:15-16 (ESV)

. . .

A quick note - The new Ladies Against Feminism site has been relaunched!  In honor of the relaunching, Noble Rose Press is having a sale!  (Emily Rose did a great job of redesigning Mrs. Chancey’s site, didn’t she?)

I’ve been reading J.R. Miller’s book The Family (formerly Home-making) and have been drinking in its beauty and wisdom. I highly recommend this book to every Christian who desires to bring honor to the Lord in their entire lives and learn how to better serve their families. This following quote is from the chapter, “The Parents’ Part.”

“But the true idea of a home is that it is a place for growth.  It is a place for the parents themselves to grow - to grow into beauty of character, to grow in refinement, in knowledge, in strength, in wisdom, in patience, gentleness, kindliness, and all the Christian graces and virtues. It is a place for children to grow - to  grow into physical vigor and health and to be trained in all that shall make them true and noble men and women.

“. . . A true home set up and all its life ordered for the definite purpose of preparing and sending out human lives fashioned into symmetry, filled with lofty impulses and aspirations, governed by principles of rectitude and honor and fitted to enter upon the duties and struggles of life with wisdom and strength.”

- J.R. Miller, The Family

Thank You , Heavenly Father, for . . .

73. a new drawing student . . . who wants to learn to draw what I love to draw: people

74. the silhouettes of snow drifts in the morning

75. the green tips of an amaryllis bulb, sitting on the window sill

76. bunny tracks in the snow

77. a new scanner/printer

78. traditions of courtesy

79. history books written by those who acknowledge Your glorious power

80. “Institutes of Biblical Law” by Rushdoony

81. a pretty, well-lit room to call “my studio”

82. safe travels on icy roads

83. Sabbath visitors

84. paper dolls and the girls who like to play with them ;)

.:. .:. .:.