Here's something about color that has always stumped me. How did it start that Blue was the designated "boy" color and pink the "girl" color? Is it purely a western tradition of sorts to decorate the nursey with the correct corresponding color?

According to Wikipedia:

- pink and blue being assigned to gender is a western tradition.
-in the 1920's pink was actually assigned to boys because "it was the more masculine and decided color while blue was considered appropraite for girls because it was more delicate and dainty."
-in the 1940's this practice had been inverted

I find it a bit amusing that pink was more "masculine" because in the 17th century pink was first defined to describe the pale red of flowering plants in the genus Dianthus. Then again, flowers have a completely different meaning today than they did in the those times. Each flower had its own meaning and to send them to someone meant different intentions. For example, in Victorian times to give someone a Lavender meant distrust while recieving a yellow Chrysanthemum hinted that you had a secret admirer. The list provided by the Society of American Florists is quite interesting. Here is the link:

http://www.aboutflowers.com/floral_b5.html



"Pink." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia. 8 Feb 2008 .

Pictures from:

-http://www.theflowerexpert.com/media/images/flowerart/flowerphotos/chrysanthemums/yellow-chrysanthemum-4.jpg

-http://www.mooseyscountrygarden.com/foliage-plants/lavender.jpg

Write about anything to do with color… those are rather broad instructions. As I said earlier in class, for me color and its strong tie to memory affect me the most. When I was younger, I loved picture books. It wasn’t until I was much older that I paid any attention to the text at all. I’d flip through the pages only to pause at long interval at the pages that held illustrations. It all really left a major impact on me to this day. The way a line created a face or how this certain color struck me in such a way that I would return again and again just so I could stare and experience it again. These childhood memories come back when I’m doing “adult” chores such as grocery shopping. A certain box will just have that certain look to it and I immediately think back on the image in own of my children’s books. The color of the cookie on the bag will bring me back to one of my favorite Bearstein bears books. I know that the cookie probably isn’t going to be that tasty, or that I really don’t need to be spending that much money on a bag of cookies but… I can’t help it. It’s too late and I’m doomed to wasting my money. The strong connection as been made in my mind and I simply must buy it.
The traditional black and white checkered kitchen floor has always had a special place in my heart as well. I may be staring at a floor in my friends house but in my mind I’m looking at a book in which the main character, a mother, has just cleaned her kitchen floor. She has also baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies and everyone in the neighbor hood wants one. Unfortunately its been raining so her spotless floor gets covered in mud. The book ends happily as her son offers to help her clean the floor and they eat cookies together. It’s hard to explain but when ever I come across a color that reminds me of something, I can’t help but smile at the old memory that’s resurfaced

Object Search

It's always a nice change when we have an assignment that pulls us out of our seats. Despite the freezing cold outside, I enjoyed going out and looking for objects and deciphering what their colors could mean. We tromped over to Safeway and there I found a watermelon. For me, when I see the light/dark green stripes on a watermelon, so many memories are attatched. Watermelons mean a warm summer day, sitting on the back patio to your house and spitting the black seeds into the grass. It makes me think of cook outs and lots of family and friends. Coming from a very rural upbringing, this particular melon has frequented my childhood. Also, the melon-green on any other object, no matter what it is, still brings to mind a watermelon. Thus people may describe, say, a shirt as being "watermelon green". The second picture I chose was the mulch outside of the grocery store. Mulch in itself wasn't exactly what I was focusing on, but rather the color and the fact that it's earth. Brown, in my opinion, is the basic earth tone and when I see thiings that are brown I immediatly connect the object with organic materials.