Vibrant Color

Photo courtesy of Dreamtime.com

I use Yahoo e-mail, and when switching between accounts, occasionally glance at the headlines in the TODAY section on the Yahoo.com webpage.  Since I love bright colors, their announcement of Pantone’s Color of the Year for 2001 jumped right out at me.  But honeysuckle?  Seriously???



Cable sweater from Old Navy

What color do you think of when you think of “honeysuckle”?  Me?  I think of white and yellow flowers, somewhat like these:

Photo courtesy of Duke.edu

So why on earth would Pantone choose to call a bright lipstick pink, “Honeysuckle?”

Well, I suppose if you do a Google image search, you’ll find these:


Trumpet Honeysuckle from Triangle.com

Golden Flame Honeysuckle from Blogspot.com

Now don’t get me wrong, I love bright colors, including bright pink.  Bright colors always make me feel good.  “A dynamic reddish pink, Honeysuckle is encouraging and uplifting. It elevates our psyche beyond escape, instilling the confidence, courage and spirit to meet the exhaustive challenges that have become part of everyday life.” [Pantone]

I’m a little apprehensive about working with Pepto -- er Honeysuckle Pink, though, because it’s one of those awkward colors.  Cracked me up when I read that Pantone advises, “It is an appetite and conversation stimulant when used on the dining room walls.”  I tried painting my dining room walls Honeysuckle Pink once.  Growing up, my parents had always advised painting room using a color lighter than you want it to appear when finished.  Thinking I’d end up with a nice, deep red, I chose a lighter version similar to Pantone’s Honeysuckle.  The room made me nauseous!  Didn’t take long to learn that lesson – it’s okay to paint a room deep red!

I headed over to http://www.colorcombos.com/ and used their Combo Tester to try out a few palettes.  The palette above is loosely based on another palette I found on their website.  I could work with that, but I think I like this one better:

I really like the way the white and dark chocolate tone down the lipstick pink.  I can see using ivory freshwater pearls and antiqued brass in a design.  But that green just seems a bit too warm, doesn’t it?  Even though the green in the first palette is warmer, the burgundy and silver balance the temperature better.  Just for grins, I switched out the green for my favorite color:

Oooooh!  I love that palette, and I can actually see myself working with it.  Amazing the difference one little color can make!

So what colors do you envision blending with Honeysuckle?  Thank you so much for stopping by today!