This is an analytical meditation to help embrace diversity. Close your eyes, take a few calming breaths, and visualize a large box of crayons with many colors (or chalks, colored pencils, or palette of paints of you prefer). Imagine pulling out the black, white, red, and yellow crayons and placing them next to your skin. Is your skin black or white or red or yellow? Certainly not!
Imagine placing each crayon in the large box against your skin until you find a match. See that it is some shade or tint of beige or brown. Set this crayon aside and visualize taking out a large blank sheet of white paper. Reflect that this is true white which is made up of all the colors combined, and if you split the colors with a prism, it forms a rainbow.
Now take the crayon that matches your skin color. Hold it up and think to yourself that this is the best color, and put all the other crayons away. With this crayon, draw a person on the blank paper. Imagine that you can draw well, and draw more people with the same crayon. Think to yourself, “I will draw the best drawing using the best crayon!” Draw the foreground and background of the picture using only the best crayon, making it the best picture.
You take this picture using only the best crayon to an art exhibit to see how others like it. Some viewers say it is a fine landscape or still life, others see animals, but most viewers say, ”It is only one uniform color. What is it supposed to be? A blank wall? What does it say?”
You decide it says there is no value in uniformity, and return to your studio to reconsider. You realize that there is no best crayon. Each crayon serves a purpose, and skillfully combining the colors creates a harmony that tells a story. You see that light falling on objects lightens colors and shadows darken colors. You see that different colors and shapes create variety that delights the eye and the heart.
You make more pictures using all the colors in the box and take your art to the gallery again. A few viewers say your art is too colorful, too primitive, discordant. But most now say they understand what you are expressing with your art. The contrast and interplay of colors speak to them. Notice that they stare at your work and understand. They see the unity in diversity. Do you?