colours

it was a busy, artistically enriching weekend.

friday, i went to sharron’s party.

saturday, i went to my second salon, which was bathed in the warm, candlelit glow of earth hour.

and yesterday, i went to a free-wheeling open-mic cabaret event.

so i’ve spent the past three nights out, watching people perform and, alternately, being moved to tears or belly laughs... or just enjoying the work but missing a sense of connection. it’s been interesting, seeing what material and which performers resonate with me, and vice versa. and it made me start thinking about the why behind it. is it the music? is it the lyrics? is it the person at the microphone or the piano? is it me? or some combination thereof?

why does some stuff really cut to the core of me and other stuff doesn’t?

i chatted with b-dub about it yesterday morning, and he said something about “emotional colour” in a performance, and a light bulb clicked on in my brain. because, for me, and in terms of all art not just song, i’m drawn to that which is richly coloured... literally or figuratively.

among the people i watched over the past three nights were gifted pros, established-but-still-growing performers, and some up-and-coming singers working at finding their voices. it was a wide spectrum of talent, but without question the ones i loved most were the ones who used an array of brushes and myriad colours to paint me a picture when they stepped into the spotlight.

a cheerful love song can be nothing but broad strokes of bright yellow, but is so much more interesting to me if there are delicate dabs of blue. or red. or green.

an actor raging on the stage can splatter nothing but black at you... but i think the work is so much richer if that black is perhaps broken down into a rainbow of greys.

even when i’m writing this blog, i could go ahead and post nothing but monochromatic entries that maintain an identical tone throughout. never veering from the primary colours, so to speak. but i hope it’s much more interesting for you (and i know it's much more challenging for me) if i try to pick out various shades and explore them. the pretty ones. the sad ones. the ugly ones. the silly ones. and so on.

that sort of colouring is easily recognizable, too... if you’re paying attention. sometimes, you recognize it instantly on a subconscious level - you can't quite pin it down, but you feel it; sometimes you have to look a little closer or listen a little more carefully before you spot it – a tear welling in a performer’s eye, a certain intangible weight to the words he or she is singing, a mournful or wistful or hopeful note struck in just the right way at just the right time so that you feel it in your heart. or, even better, in your soul.

brushes and colours.

and they come in many forms. vulnerability. honesty. sensitivity. creativity. authenticity. sincerity. show me those and i’m yours.

to be clear, this isn’t to say that you can’t fully enjoy a comparatively less-shaded piece of art, be it a song or a movie or a book or a photo or a painting, because you most certainly can. but, for the purposes of this entry, i’m talking about the sort of stuff that embraces a full palette. that truly moves you. changes you. reaches you. and connects with you in a way that reminds you you’re not alone.

as an audience member, i am consistently and unwaveringly drawn to those colours and that kind of emotional exposure. i also feel tremendously lucky to have friends who are willing to open themselves up in that way: to offer the vulnerability and honesty and sincerity that, as b-dub put it, is the difference between someone who’s sharing and someone who’s showing. it’s a tricky thing, too. one that requires tremendous courage on the part of the person who’s singing or acting or playing or painting or what have you. to take someone’s hand, embark on a journey together and share the colours that make up a life.

i think a great artist – and i saw several this weekend – will knock down his or her walls, fill the proverbial canvas and give these things to you; whether you’re willing or able to accept is entirely in your hands.

but, man, when they do and you go along?

magic. pure and simple.