Chromatophobia?

You may notice that the work I’ve shown so far is devoid of primary colors. I am particularly drawn to subtle “earth colors” textures (just look at the colors I chose for this blog page) and why not??  Materials used in basketry  come in  colors from nature—bark, roots, grasses, rushes, cane, vines, pine needles, etc—and are usually harvested dry for weaving  or harvested green and then dried, although some are soaked  or dampened in water to increase pliability  for easy weaving.  My bead-artist sister LOVES color while I have chromatophobia (fear of colors). More accurately, I have zero confidence in the use of color to express myself. I certainly do not want to discount or belittle anyone who might have a clinical disorder related to  a fear of color—I’ve heard that some people get full panic attacks when exposed to certain colors. Me? I just become immobilized when faced with a blank canvas. It is more natural for me to choose colors made readily available for the picking by Mother Nature. She has already made the decisions for me.  Even when shopping for clothes (which I abhor) I have been known to buy outfits right off the manikin. Some fine arts major working as a window dresser in Macy’s throws together just the right look and color scheme and voila! (well, at least for the rare occasions  I wear something other than jeans and big shirts.).  So in the woven sculpture below, I broke out of myself and went for some color. This was a bit of a breakthrough, adding a spectrum of colors of waxed linen thread to a piece of driftwood, and although I have begun to learn more about color, I've a long way to go.