A Favorite Color

How I add a little joy to my life

Jan 18, 2026

Maybe because I come from Southern California, orange is to me the color of life. It also represents happiness, probably because it’s the first color I saw every morning growing up, when my mother would bring me a little glass of fresh-squeezed juice and say, “Morning, glory!” (That pun still makes me laugh.)

I don’t need a wall of it to spark a lively feeling in me - just accents. A simple bowl of clementines, this dash of orange, can make my whole world feel happier, even when it’s not.

When people ask me what my favorite color is, I say ALL. My affection for certain colors varies slightly, depending on the place, the light, the application, the mood. For example, if it’s a color I’m going to wear, I know that no matter how much I love a particular shade of yellow, I must never have it on me anywhere above my waist. Context is a factor, but I truly love all colors.

When I was an interior decorator, I would ask new clients about their favorite colors. Often they would surprise me with “I like all the colors, except orange, of course.” It was the “of course” that told me so much and guided me to steer away from a level of saturation and too-lively combinations. Over 35+ years of asking this question, orange is the only color people ever mentioned to me this way. I would never tell them about the colors I liked because the space was about them, not me. Furthermore, their trust in me would fade to zero if they knew that I loved a color they were afraid of. But in my own environments, I add orange in little splashes wherever I can.

In my studio there are mountains of scrap fabrics. I use them to make color studies but rarely make them into anything else. I just like thinking about color and pattern. I hand-stitch them, which adds another layer of pleasure for me.

This is my favorite pen. Could there be anything that makes writing more fun?

Not only is my pen orange, it’s a fountain pen. I love writing with it. Truth is, I do most of my writing in pencil in a Leuchtturm notebook (which happens to be a shade of orange). But I do use this pen to write birthday cards and letters on paper, which I find joy in mailing in an envelope with a stamp on it at the post office.

Down the hall here in my house, you will find two orange monoprints of chairs - a favorite subject of mine - from a short stint I enjoyed in a printmaking studio many years ago. These little pieces are 5” square each, behind wide white mats. Every time I see these spots of color and form, they make me feel happy.

I’m adamantly opposed to using paper towels, to varying degrees of success in my own home, since my partner thinks I’m crazy. I do insist on using cloth napkins at our table, though, and that has worked out well. It’s amazing how long they last! Decades! And no, I do not iron them after washing, unless I’m feeling the need for the pleasure of ironing. Recently, I made new ones for us in a cheerful color (orange!) that I knew would brighten our dining table. It’s in the center of the space that also contains the kitchen and living room in our little house, so I get to see them a lot.

I had been thinking this color would be nice for our summer table, but it sure livens things up in winter. Why wait for joy? And these days, I am happy to find it wherever I can.