Project Athena - Day 189 (roygbiv - g)

December 13, 2014

My Alma Mater - CSU

The final day of the color spectrum and I decided to end with a green photo I shot a few weeks ago while attending a CSU football game, my first in over 20 years.

Even though I am not a huge football fan in general, I still have been following the news of this year's CSU team because of how their successful 10-2 winning season has influenced the Fort Collins City Counsel's decision to approve the building of a new $220 million stadium in the heart of the campus. All I can say about that is WOW. Big decision that will change the face of the campus and the city. Now all CSU needs is a new football coach, a new athletic director, a plan to maneuver the team into the Big 12 Conference and a lots and lots of money to finance this grandiose project.

Green is the color of money but more important it is the color of the heart chakra. It promotes balance and harmony creating equilibrium between the head and the heart. It is also the color of growth, renewal and rebirth. I use green as an emotionally positive color to support self love and self nurturing and to break free from patterns of being the martyr. It is also enhance outward expressions of love for friends, family, pets and significant others.

CSU CheerleadersNikon D3200 • Nikon 55-200mm lens • 200mm • F/5.6 • 1/800s • ISO 400 — **CSU Cheerleaders**
Nikon D3200 • Nikon 55-200mm lens • 200mm • F/5.6 • 1/800s • ISO 400

Project Athena - Day 188 (roygbiv - o)

December 12, 2014

Orange is the New Blah-Blah Meter

I love the color orange even though in the world of print, it has often been my nemesis. It can be a challenging color to pull off using CMYK processes and still have it hold its brightness and vibrancy.

There are many great qualities associated with the color orange including joy, warmth, enthusiasm, creativity, encouragement, determination, happiness, fun, sexuality, spontaneity and freedom just to name a few. Ironically, it is often also the color of incarceration. The color orange combines the physical energy and stimulation of red with the cheerfulness of yellow. It supports the second chakra (the energy center around the naval) and enhances our gut reactions versus our mental ideas. I use this color to gain access to my gut as a sensory organ, to utilize the billions of sensory cells in the intestines and stomach to accurately inform me about a situation, as a bullshit meter, or help me make a decision.

I consider orange one of the more uplifting and optimistic colors that helps rejuvenate the body and being. Maybe that's why adding a glass of orange juice to my morning meal can change my overall outlook on a the day.

Interesting that orange has become the color of our utility cables since they are the conduit of transmitting pure, energy!

Utility CablesNikon D3200 • Nikon 55-200mm lens • 200mm • F/69 • 1/250s • ISO 100 — **Utility Cables**
Nikon D3200 • Nikon 55-200mm lens • 200mm • F/69 • 1/250s • ISO 100

Project Athena - Day 187 (roygbiv - y)

December 11, 2014

Round & Round & Round

Yellow...it's a color with which I have a love/hate relationship. Some days, I am drawn to its brilliance and intensity. Other days, it literally give me a headache. Sometimes it holds an energy of enlightenment and other times I feel like it is screaming "coward!". If a room is painted yellow, I can feel cheery and happy but when I see a yellow vehicle, I think about deceit and betrayal. It can jolt me promptly into alertness and it can make me feel overwhelmed with toxicity. It is the color of the third chakra, the solar plexus. I suspect that when I am not living in my full power, that is when yellow feels repulsive to me.

This sign caught my attention today as I drove through some of the newest roundabouts in Loveland. I vote we rename our city Round-About-Town. Our city planners are very enthusiastic about these special circular traffic junctions.

I am not opposed to roundabouts as a means of flowing traffic, although I do think some folks don't quite get the hang of them. Now, when I find myself stuck in a roundabout of life, metaphorically speaking, that is a different story. Do you know what I am talking about...Those situations you manage to get yourself into without creating a collision but somehow you can't get yourself to the exit. I feel like this cold I've contracted is a roundabout virus. Every time I start to feel better and think I am going to exit, it pulls me back in and just keeps going and going and going......

Roundabout SignNikon D3200 • Nikon 18-55mm lens • 34mm • F/9 • 1/500s • ISO 100 — **Roundabout Sign**
Nikon D3200 • Nikon 18-55mm lens • 34mm • F/9 • 1/500s • ISO 100

Project Athena - Day 186 (roygbiv - v)

December 10, 2014

Relaxing with Violet

These giant rosettes of frilly violet leaves are one of my favorite plants, especially because they tolerate the cold Colorado weather. They can keep their brilliant color all the way into spring and their colors even intensify in the cold. I found this one still thriving at the CSU flower garden where I spent a lot of time shooting this last summer.

Violet has the highest vibration in the visible spectrum. In the chakra system, it is the color of the spiritual crown at the top of the head. This is the bridge between body and spirit. Violet can also represent lushness and is often seen in motifs that portray wealth, fame and royalty.

Violet is the the color of the daydreamer. I like to use it as a portal to escape from the practicalities of everyday life and step into the fantasy world. Gazing upon this color with the eyes or breathing in its fragrant essence from a violet colored plant such as lavender creates a harmonious environment for both the mind and the emotions. For me, it is the color of relaxation and well being.