A Colorful Life
Worried about what the neighbors will think because you’ve been thinking about painting the trim around your front door a sedate purple? Don’t. Your neighbors should just be happy you’re not taking it all the way, like uber-crafter Violette Clark, whose “spirit and artistic drive are completely uncontrollable” and who paints “whatever object falls beneath her gaze.” All right, so my chosen quotes make her sound a bit… wacky? But she’s really awesome, especially if a marker for awesomeness is doing whatever you want to do when it comes to your house and car.
Doing what you want to do – neighbors be damned – might even lead you down the path to a new life, as it did for Violette.
[She] always loved color, but she began saturating her home with it following the break-up of her marriage 14 years ago.
“When I went off and bought my own cottage, it was as if someone had given me a crayon and said I could do anything I wanted,” she says. “It was liberating. You don’t have to consider everybody else you live with.”
Embracing what she calls her “inner eccentric friend” has opened many doors for Clark.
Like creation a successful program of classes and workshops… writing a book… and generally getting famous within her chosen sphere. Pretty awesome to think that all that started with her painting her cottage’s doors!
A bit over the top for me, and I like color.
I like it a lot, but offer a caveat: using color like this requires skill, and when its done badly it’s painful to see. There is a reason why people do it professionally and/or offer classes!
And of course if you have an HOA you’ll never be able to do it.
@Pam It’s definitely not for everyone – and I think one would have to deal with a certain amount of skepticism or even derision from neighbors!
@Phyllis Tell me about it! The MA shore is full of colorful houses. Most are awesome, but some… you have to wonder what exactly the people who choose the colors were thinking.
long live the “big c” color!