Saturday, August 18, 2012

Gray Is a Story

Check out Carmi's post for more gray.

When Carmi prompted us to post a gray-themed picture I started thinking about what I might use as my gray subject. What is gray for me? What comes to mind when I think of gray? 

The simplest answer is that gray is a paint chip; one of those little pieces of paper you get at the hardware store with a series of "warm grays" or "cool grays" that you can hold against your wall, scrunch up your eyes and try to figure out what it would look like magnified a thousand times to fill the room. 

Beyond that, however, I realized that gray (to me) is a story. gray is my drive to work 
with the interior of the car in a color that Toyota (that year) called "stone."

Gray can be a boring length of galvanized steel. 
But if I back up a step, I see it has a story to tell, with a hole and rust, and a chain. 

Gray is the color of rocks around here. 
I grew up with rocks that were predominantly beige. New England granite, however, seems to be mostly served up in gray.

The gravel beneath my feet can tell a story; this time the story is about nature's resilience. 

The Civil War Monument downtown is gray, and definitely tells a story, with the names carved in the bottom section. The fact that it is in good shape and not neglected is also a story. 

I just know that this house has stories to tell.

Even the parking meter I used on Wednesday has a story to tell. I see that it wasn't always gray. It seems to me that in a former life it was blue. 

But the favorite gray for me are these chairs. 

Simple folding chairs might seem to be a boring story. But every time these chairs come out of the basement it is because we're expecting company, and that is always a smile-worthy occasion.

6 comments:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Nice pics, and a lovely ending!
~

Gilly said...

I love your grey selection - especially the chairs! Our local stone is grey, but a browner tinge in it. Millstone Grit its called, because, guess what! - it was used to make Mill Stones, being hard!

Janet said...

those chairs remind me of the church my parents attended and the many pot lucks we went to!

carmilevy said...

I like how you see the world. While some may see things as ordinary, it's the stories around them that are extraordinary - but only if we take the time to look. You clearly do, and I find that neat.

So glad you shared this as part of this week's theme. The new one's now up!

laurak/ForestWalkArt :) said...

...i never really thought gray to be boring. like you say, so many shades...and as you proved with your pictures...each 'gray something' has a story behind it.

Creative said...

To you, it can never be a boring story because it's your life, and it's the day to day things you see around you, that make up the fabric of your life! My grey story is a teddy bear my first boyfriend gave me that's grey and that I will always cherish :)