Gray day

Ever since we created GlamKat, I've been trying to find inspiration everywhere. I was taking a lunchtime walk around the office building when I came across a transcendental vision--a grouping of five gaunt, leaf-stripped trees jutting towards a robin-egg blue sky. What struck me was the velveteen gray of bark and architectural branches. The discovery was serendipitous. If I hadn't stopped to observe these details I would have completely bypassed the beauty of the mountains today. Due to the impending storm, a cool, creamy mist had gathered. With a little effort I could even imagine that we were somewhere else all together like the Swiss Alps. The sober hue of the trees strongly resonated with me. I find it in the recollections of empty rooms, dim afternoons and partially pulled blinds. It is the color of the cement we played, jumped, ran and threw balls on. Gray is also the exact shade in some of Katherine Chiu's paintings, simultaneously sweet and melancholic, playful and sedate, which I think is much more evocative of childhood than any bubblegum pink, tangerine and neon blue that you see in today's marketing materials for youth. Sometimes I wish in our culture youth would no longer be associated with levity. In reality, it is quite the opposite. We as children take minor and major events quite seriously when we are young. In fact, some of the most grave individuals that I have encountered in my life were not a day over 7. Our youthful years may be the most earnest times in our lives.



Check Kat Chiu out at www.katherinechiu.net