I use blue a lot, my mind can always understand blue (check out my photo, other than the black belt and boots it's all blue). The problem with tan is that when you put it together with a wood blank that is "tan/brown" in color, my mind blends the colors. This causes my eyes to see just one color which, in most cases, blends the wood colors together and all I see is the cap, clip, center band and nib of the pen displayed. Living life with basically two colors is a pain, blue or brown. My wardrobe is basically two colors, blue and brown. My wife helps me when we go out, if it doesn't look right she will tell me. As for using white, I've asked a couple friends here on this site and all have said to use white...so I'm going to change my photo box to a white background. I do appreciate your input though and hopefully you understand where I'm coming from.