Wedding Dress by J. S. Marlo

 

Undeniable Trait

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J. S. Marlo's BWL Books

When my daughter got married... Actually, more like eleven months before my daughter got married, we spent a weekend together wedding dress shopping.

In one boutique we saw a gorgeous deep sapphire blue dress. It looked like a Disney Princess wedding dress. My daughter and I fell in love with it the moment we saw it, but unfortunately the style didn't fit her at all. The dress that she ended up choosing (or was it the dress that ended up choosing my daughter) was even more gorgeous, but it was a classic white, not a stunning blue.

Traditionally, white was the most common colour in many western cultures as it symbolized purity, innocence, and a fresh start. However, not all countries favoured the same colours for the same reasons.

In Chinese culture, red was the traditional and common colour that symbolized good fortune, happiness, and fertility.

In some countries, the more vibrant the colours were, the better for the wedding dress. While browsing for pictures, I saw all the colours, including black.

Until the mid-1800s, black was the traditional colour in Catholic Spain. It symbolized the bride's devotion to her husband until death.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, black was also worn by Finnish brides but not for the same reason. At the time, black fabric was more readily available, and black was seen as a solemn colour that reflected the bride's commitment to marriage.

Back when I got married, I wore my neighbour's wedding dress. It was white, not quite the style I would have liked, but it fitted perfectly. Besides, money was short, and it was cheaper to borrow it for one day than buy a new one that I wouldn't have worn again. In retrospect, it was a lucky dress... I'm still married to that same wonderful husband more than four decades later. 

Stay safe! Hugs!

JS

 

 

J. S. Marlo's Website

Color my world conflicted

Get it here!

https://books2read.com/Dreamcatcher-Barbara-Baldwin

                If you’re like me, you’re tired of hearing about the Covid virus, quarantine and food shortages. You’re ready to get out – ANYWHERE – just to feel like your life is your own again. On May 3, Diane Bator wrote on the BWL blog about some of the trouble some writers are having staying on track. It seems ridiculous that with all the hours in a day we can’t sit down and crank out novel after novel.  While I should be writing, my creative efforts have shifted. Instead of the computer, I have been sitting at the sewing machine finishing some quilt tops that had been started, or purchased, some time ago. As I cut and sew, it is impossible to miss my use of color. No pale or pastel colors for this quilter and that made me think more about the use of color in writing (and life).

Remember when you got that first box of crayons for Kindergarten? Big chunky colors – red, blue, green, yellow, black, brown, purple and orange. As we colored, we’d pick yellow for the sun and green for the grass because colors often cause us to think of particular physical things.  As our pictures progressed through the years, we probably added some orange to the sun; red if there was a sunset, and the grass had patches of brown or blue-green and colorful little flowers began sprouting everywhere.   

Color has also often been used in song titles. Though using particular titles may be dating me, do you recognize “A Yellow Submarine”, “Blue Suede Shoes”, or “Purple Rain”?

But colors can also make us think of non-nouns; in other words things like emotions. Red might communicate anger or heat; whereas pink, which is a shade of red, is a more gentle color; perhaps like lavender. Green is often the color of envy or jealousy; yellow might make one think of a cowardly person. There are plenty of idioms that use color – “the pot calling the kettle black”, “blue in the face” or “white knuckled.” Yet no one color is exclusive to a particular arena. For example, red can be both “red tape” and the “red carpet” and those two expressions can be opposites rather than synonyms.

                I urge you to try a writing exercise using color to describe something not normally associated with color? What color is rain or the blowing wind? How would you paint hunger or homelessness or grief? How would you describe a rushing river with color?

                My writing is similar to my quilting – full of color and no two are alike. I write contemporary and historical, time travel and short story. I invite you to visit http://www.bookswelove.com/romance-authors/baldwin-barbara/ for a full listing of my novels with Books We Love.

Here’s to our early release…or at least to the opening of the local liquor stores!

Barb

http://www.authorsden.com/barbarajbaldwin

http://www.bookswelove.com/romance-authors/baldwin-barbara/