Tangerine is the new Honeysuckle

Remember when grey was the new black? My friends and I thought we were sooooo clever when we said that.

We were graphic designers working in the ad industry, and it was important to be aware of color trends. Pantone, according to their website, is the world-renowned color authority, and each year determines the color of the year. Designers of all stripes – graphic, industrial, clothing, floral – incorporate that color in their products and ideas, until the next new color is announced.

This year Tangerine Tango is the belle of the ball. I missed the memo earlier this month, but did my research after my trendy daughter mentioned she was looking for some artwork with orange in it for her newly painted bedroom. The walls are grey – pewter or gunmetal or something like that – and she wants to kick it up with orange accents.

Of course she does. Do a search on etsy or Pinterest for orange and grey and you, too, will be inspired.

I actually liked last year's Honeysuckle better. I've always liked pink, especially pink with grey. (For the record, the honeysuckle blossoms that climb up the side of my garden shed are yellow. Which also looks good with grey.) To be sure, I like my pink much lighter – baby pink or sky blue pink, rather than deep rose. But sticking with pink in any shade would mark me as sooooo last year.

So in order to display my trendiness, yesterday I finally framed and hung a picture I took this past fall. To me, the color is much more tangerine than Pantone 17-1463. There is no way this reduced-in-size .jpg version even remotely resembles the majesty of the real-life view, or even the larger RAW image I was able to capture with a Canon Rebel and a lot of luck.

Our view to the west, illuminated by the sun rising in an
otherwise gunmetal-grey sky. 10/27/11, 7:10 a.m.

And it's certainly not the modern orange vibe my citified daughter's looking for. But it's not bad for the Middle of Nowhere. When you add all the orange marmalade in my pantry, I'd say it's pretty darned good. And trendy.

Apologies to those of you who were reading back in October and have to look at this yet again! Heh.