It's Marsala, have you heard?

Each year there is a secret meeting of people in the color industry to pick the annual "color of the year" and this year's color is Marsala...the "rich and full-bodied red-brown...sultry and subtle" (sexy words excerpted from Pantone website) So, you ask, what's the big deal about Pantone and its colors? I shall enlighten you (as I have just enlightened myself.)


In a nutshell, Pantone colors are the industry standard so that when someone talks about a specific shade of blue it will perfectly match with someone on the other side of the world. Even our computer monitors display so many variations in colors, as do paint chips. So, way back in the 1950's (when I was but a child) a new college graduate named Lawrence Herbert applied his chemistry knowledge to standardize ink colors at the printing company where he worked. It saved them a bundle in excessive and unnecessary ink colors. He bought out the ink and printing division and named his new company Pantone. It's been a raging success every since, guaranteeing that what you order in a Pantone color is what you are going to get no matter where in the world it is created. Pantone colors are everywhere, from Coca Cola to Fiesta dishes to hundreds of logos.


I should paint something in Marsala...what should it be??