Wishful Wednesday - The Color Purple

If you were looking for a review of the amazing novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker, I'm sorry, you'll have to keep on walkin... perhaps another day!

There IS, however, a quote from the book that goes:

"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. " ~Alice Walker

I agree, but I'll take it one step further... I think if you don't notice the color purple anywhere, He might get pissed off.  But then, in my opinion, purple is THE most perfect color in the world. Of course I give you the right to argue that blue or red or green, or in my husband Al's case, "clear" (I hope you can understand what I put up with now!) is the most perfect color, but you're entitled to your opinions, however wrong they might be! Ok, I'm just messing with you, there are lots of colors that are beautiful, so please don't start a smear campaign against me. Purple just happens to be my favorite!

So, what does my love of purple say about me - or any of you who share my passion for purple? Well, according to the website Empower Yourself with Color Psychology:

• Having a personality color purple or violet as your favorite color means you are sensitive and compassionate, understanding and supportive, thinking of others before yourself - you are the person others come to for help - being needed motivates you but sometimes people take advantage of you. You are a gentle and free spirit. Your feelings run deep and you can be quite sensitive to hurtful comments from others, although you would never show it. You have a peaceful and tranquil quality and a quiet dignity about you. People are drawn to your charismatic and alluring energy. You are creative and like to be individual in most of your endeavors, including your dress and home decoration - you love the unconventional. You are very intuitive and quite psychic or at least interested in spiritual growth or the occult - you seek spiritual fulfillment. You look for the meaning of life. You are a generous giver, asking for little in return except friendship. You are a good judge of character and sum others up quite quickly and accurately, although you usually see the best in everybody. You are a visionary, with high ambitions, dreams and desires, and a compulsion to help humanity and to improve the planet earth.
• You are usually introverted rather than extroverted and may give the impression of being shy although this is not the case. You are idealistic, and often impractical, with a great imagination, dreaming of a future in an ideal fantasy world where you exclude the ugly side of reality - you tend to look at life through rose-colored glasses. People who don't understand you sometimes think you are eccentric because you spend so much time in your fantasy world. You can be secretive, with even your closest friends not really knowing you well. Time means little to you and you are often late for everything. You trust the flow of the Universe to take care of everything. You need to be careful not to take on too many projects at a time as you can become quite scattered in your thinking, resulting in stress and confusion. You often hold positions of power because you are visionary, but you delegate to others all the minor details that you aren't interested in.

I'll admit, fits me pretty well, I think. How about you other purple aficionados? I think the study of colors and their links to personality and perception is fascinating. For instance, did you know that the colors you select when marketing can influence your buyers' perceptions of your business? In the case of purple, it is associated with royalty,justice, ambiguity, uncertainty, luxury,fantasy, dreams. You can find out more about colors in marketing here.

I know you didn't come here just to read my ramblings on purple, so let's get down to the heart of this Wishful Wednesday...here are a few of the "purples" I'm drooling over today - enjoy!


While I love purple, it's been a while since I've had the opportunity to decorate my living space with it, but when I ran across this wonderful pendant light at wolfartglass, I was wishing I had a little breakfast nook that I could add this beauty to! But how to bring a little bit of old and new together perfectly?



These sweet little Grapevine Decorated Sideplates from VeniceMud are the perfect size for a breakfast bagel and cream cheese - and the yellow trim keeps things from getting too monotone here!




Cloth napkins are always a nice touch for the table at any meal, and I think these lovelies from Hippieneaner are simple enough to complement the lamp, but pick up the pattern of the grapevine tendrils on the plates too. But the best thing about them is that they're purple, of course!



Enough with my living space purple wishes (too much purple in a living space can hamper one's mood or so I've read!), so let's go into some more personal choices.

The part of my purple personality that loves fantasy is one that I will never deny, so here is the first of the fantasy world purples that I'm adding to my wishlist here. Meet Diantha. She's a flower faerie, and a vision of purple sprinkled with tiny flashes of all the colors of the rainbow. She's waiting to be adopted at ToadstoolsNTreestump, along with her many other lovely art doll companions.

In addition to having purple around me, I love having purple around me in the form of clothes and jewelry, and for this feature, I took a little bit of a sentimental journey back in time to select some items that while reminiscent of what I would have worn "way back when", these styles continue to stand the test of time and be just as popular and fun to wear now as they were back then.

For poolside or playtime, a leisurely stroll along the beach or a casual Saturday evening cookout, I've always loved long, fluttering in the breeze dresses, and when this "you'd never know if it was wrinkled" material first appeared on the fabric scene years ago, it was a winner on my easy care clothing list. thesisterladyshop offers a great selection of similar styles, but this So..So... Sweet Violet Cotton Dress is just perfect for my wishlist. I've owned dresses in nearly identical styles in the past - dating all the way back to the early 70s. Definitely a timeless (and extremely comfortable) fashion statement!

Back in the late 60's and early 70s, if I wasn't in school and the weather was mild, chances are good that you might find me in one of these fun floppy brimmed hats. All the rage as bridesmaid's headwear back then, I collected a couple from weddings I was part of, but I had a collection of at least 10 of them at one point! So when I ran across this sweet purple haze hat at missfarfalla, I realized that (with perhaps a swap out of the velvet ribbon for some grograin ribbon or a little cluster of flowers) it would look really "groovy and far out" with the dress!

Accessories and jewelry are always a bit tough for me, because I pretty much need to force myself out of the functional and choose things simply because they are fun! I had some luck with selections for this post, finding some completely different styles that appeal to all of my eccentric (I've been called worse!) personality traits.


This stunning beaded Purple Octopus Cuff Bracelet from arventur is... well - stunning! Sugilite and Paua cabs woven amidst a lovely framework of seed beads and pearls in a beautiful array of purples creates an amazing OOAK treat for your wrist!



I've kind of always had a penchant for bright colors when I do use accessories, probably because my clothes are usually a little on the classic, and somewhat plain, side - so I can get away with livening them up with things like purses. The bright and beautiful Lake Blossoms hobo bag from affordablebagdesigns is right up my alley. I love the vivid colors and the splashy print definitely adds a whimsical "wow" factor!

The only thing left is jewelry and I had a hard time deciding between two of my favorite purple necklaces, so I'm sharing both. HrtsofStone offers up February Love, an awesome choker length necklace featuring genuine amethyst and quartz crystal nuggets along with a sweet amethyst heart pendant in a design that pays homage to Mother Earth in a refreshing and unique fashion.  I love amethyst not only because it's purple, but because it is a master healing stone... promoting inner peace, and helping one through life's many transitions.

ss10001 created this lovely Lavender Heart with purple lovers in mind. Combining a variety of purple seed beads in a number of sizes and finishes with the warmth of copper results in a novel collection of color that is sure to be a hit. I love the balance and depth of the piece, and to my mind's eye it creates the illusion of the birth of a star in the dark outreaches of space, as it expands to bring warmth and light to its surroundings. Beautiful piece!


I could have shared another couple of thousand perfectly purple items today, but I suppose there will be other days, and this is quite the collection. I hope you've enjoyed this trek through a small piece of my purple heaven. Ooops... almost forgot, I promised you one more of my friends from the world of fantasy and magic and Mythologicae to lead your way home safely. This purple dragonfly hatchling may look like he's the one that needs help, but trust me, purple dragon-flys are anything but helpless!

What are you wishing for this Wishful Wednesday?

xo,