"Look!"  the child in me is always going to crow,  "I can  make purple!"
"All you do is take some red,"  I say,  demonstrating by squeezing a dab
of red watercolor paint onto the paper plate I am using as a palette,
"put some blue on top, then stir.    Ever see such a pretty purple?"

"Red and yellow make orange!"    "Blue and yellow make green!"
Still a miracle to me, how colors can be combined to make others.
Do you know you can make brown by mixing red and green?
It's true ~!  A great deal of the joy of painting is coming up with new
hues.  Need a lighter, richer yellow?  Drop in a little ivory. 
Want to paint a forest?  Play with yellow and green until it turns
to lime.  Play some more, chartreuse~!  Pick up a glob of blue
with your brush and a glob of the charteuse, and glory-be.
Isn't green, isn't blue, it's smack-dab between.  Number  of
blues you can make is as infinite as the va-va-voom shawls the sky
is famous for.  Known shades are myriad: turquoise, aqua, teal,
marine, azure, cerulean, powder, and navy only the beginning.

Doesn't have to be sun shining through rain:  whole world
is a rainbow.  "Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset," a Fiddler
on the Roof song goes.  Each time Nature paints one, the child
in her comes out.  Almost hear her giggle as she smears, swirls,
splashes, and feathers  pink-red-rose-geranium-pink-red-rose-
lavenderlavenderlavender-pink-red-rose, then moves on to
plum-dove-silver-pewter or mauve-umber-mauve-umber-green-
peeking-from-under, or hint-of-yellow-hit of gold-tastes-of-peach-
apricot-this-could-be-mango.  She can go on for days.  And 
no wonder!  So much to work with.  Subtleties in a single flower
are inspiring.  Field and fountain, valley and mountain.  Jungles,
deserts, rock crops.    The tiger, the elephant, the diamondback
rattlesnake.  Junkyard dog and alley cat.  Rainbow trout!  Atlantic,
Pacific!  Colors after rain, colors rolling or lazing by in rivers
and streams.  Colors that surprise in snow and ice.  Colors
that play in skin and turn cities that acid-trip a big city at night.

I call it "accidental beauty."  Original  Designs by Great Spirit. 
Yours free if you open your eyes.  Dreams play with crayons. 
Turn oil from a leaking valve into an impressionist painting.
Color sings and dances and does disappearing acts.  Most of all --
outline this with indigo ink -- it gives children young and old
the thrill of being allowed to participate in a magic show.

Gotta sign off so I can go see what Spring is wearing today.
Yesterday’s outfit looked like a painting by Van Gogh!