Fear of Color

Here’s the thing:
in the end, it’s about the colors
you choose.

Bright, or somber,
erotic or spiritual, or a splash of both.
Muted, or loud,
color

makes the painting, color
tells the story of the truest true,
of the heart more than the eye,
it is the soul you choose,

not the soul
the world around you sees,
but something more personal,
more frightening,
and far more real

About this poem

I take pictures of my palettes after I finish a painting. Don’t ask me why. I just do.

Perhaps it is because I took up painting because, while I had been an artist for many years, drawing in pen and ink, I had always been afraid of color, and choosing to paint was, in it’s way, an overcoming of yet another fear, and creating something new, and in it’s way, better.

Tom