hot pink

The color on April’s palette is hot pink.Hot pink is the wild side of pink. It’s the rebellious teenage attitude of pink. Retaining the sweet femininity of pink, hot pink is simply more intense as it is not as mellowed with the purity of white. What makes it hot? Possibly its intensity or its tendency toward passionate red.

Hot pink surprised me this month, showing up unannounced. It was a creation on my canvas by an unseen mingling of crimson and violet. Crimson and violet were an unlikely combination until I saw their result layered over pure white. I was slightly taken back as I have never considered hot pink as a “natural” color, yet it arose out of a natural mix. Like an unexpected temper tantrum from my teenage daughter, I had to stand back in wonder. I accepted it and continued the painting, knowing if I tried to change it, it would fight back. The result was appreciation for its appearance. I am in love with the wild femininity it brought to the canvas. It’s youthful freedom jumps off the canvas.

As I looked at the finished painting with a friend and some champagne, she commented on its uncensored sensuality. She felt its feminine creativity would continue to grow and multiply if it was not somehow contained by a square canvas. Like a wild flower in nature, it is pure femininity without containment, or mother nature’s wild child. Looking in the mirror, I saw the recognition of this wild painting. Perhaps the solemn coolness of winter had tempered my wild child within. Or perhaps my almost 42 years of age had whitened, or mellowed the hot pink along with my increasing grey hairs.

Maturity somehow censors sensuality, yet it is just a censor, or a filter. The filter might be necessary, however it is also necessary to know that the pure intense energy behind it is still accessible in full strength. The filters are a choice that comes with wisdom of maturity. The beauty of maturity is not that the wild child ceases to exist; it is that the wild child learns to focus its strength. As the canvas contains the wild energy in Uncensored, it is focused and powerful. The same is true for me. While I have a yearning for ultimate freedom, a life without boundaries, uncensored and wild… I know, with the grace of maturity, that when I focus, commit, and don’t spread myself too thin, I am in my full strength.

The paradox is that true wild freedom is nothing without a container to take notice of it.