The smell of color...

I never knew that color had a smell. Or maybe, it always had, and I had just forgotten it.

I had gone to the art supplies shop, intending to purchase pencils for my sketching purposes. Sometimes ideas pop in my head while I am listening to Cast-on or L&V while knitting, but the second I reach for a pen, the idea disappears. It seems that my inner muse doesnt like pens?

So pencils it will be.

I made the mistake of informing DH that I would be buying pencils.. and maybe, 1 or 2 color pencils.. just in case my muse prefers color. He immediately insisted on accompanying me to the art shop & helping me select the appropriately correct & optimal tools for the job. (It doesnt matter that they are just color pencils, it's a PROJECT to him). He convinced me that I really really needed to buy a full set of color pencils, because it would be disastrous if I wanted to draw a chartreuse top & didnt have the correct shade. I stood in the shop for an hour, testing out the pencils, rolling them in my palm, reading the box labels even though some were not in English... and generally pretending that I'm a real artist.

Back home, I carefully opened the flat metal container, and lifted out the 2 plastic trays encasing 36 different colors. I was immediately surrounded by that peculiar combination of woody, waxy smell that I used to smell in art class, many many years ago. I used my brand new fuschia battery-operated pencil sharpener (wanna guess who's idea that was?), and carefully, inserted each pencil in for exactly 3 seconds, trying to make each point just sharp enough but not too crumbly.

Then, I took out a blank sheet of paper & started doodling, tentatively at first, not sure exactly what I should be drawing. The scent of freshly sharpened pencils filled my nostrils and brought me back to days when as a child, I would sit & draw & color the whole day away. It was a simpler, happy time... when we did things just for the enjoyment, not necessarily for a purpose.

This was a feeling which has been missing from my life for far too long. The smell of color has reminded me of that.

Here is my contribution for Project Spectrum 2.0 for the month of April