“In our life there is a single color, as on an artist’s palette, which provides the meaning of life and art.  It is the color of love.”

– Marc Chagall

Here is a lovely thought for you.  However you bring your own mark — your own color — to the world today, be sure to tinge it with the color of love.  I am getting ready to begin a painting project, and I don’t mean the walls in a room.  It is a decorative design on the top of a small table.  I have been playing with mixing colors, and I made sure to have a large tube of white available for lightening the bright colors and making them more subtle.  I will even use some of the white separately, as an accent, to add bright spots to my design.  I thought about how difficult it was for me in Art class so many years ago to get the shading just right when I was drawing.  Then I thought about how using my tube of white paint would be like shading in reverse — I would be brightening instead.

As I take a deep breath and shake off the thought that I am not a good painter, I will try to make this project a metaphor for the way I like to live.  Whatever color I bring to the world today, I will add some light to it — add the color of love.  I will use it to brighten the corners of life.  I will mix it with the other contributions I bring.  And now and then, just for fun, I will dab some on full-strength and watch how it pops and explodes against the background.

However you choose to paint your canvas today, be sure to include the color of love.