Sunday, November 28, 2004

The color red

RED, the crayon we all fought over in kindergarten. Blood red, tomato red, fire engine red, red sails in the sunset, red baiting, red sox, Red Rose, Red Rover, Red letter, red cross, red light...
I could go on and on.
For me red symbolizes so much. It is an unequivocal color; lighten it and it becomes pink, a totally different color. Darken it and it becomes the color of dried blood, also not the same. Purity is a red color, and vice versa. It says "I'm confident". Non-whimpy! Pure red is triumphant, overcoming, declarative.
When I am at my most secure, I wear red. When asserting my identity, I choose red as my self expression. I am currently knitting a vibrant red hat. My tea this morning was brewed in a red teakettle. My shoes are red, as well as the towels in my bathroom. I like shopping at Target because of the red bullseye symbols all over the store. Where is the red in my studio? It's all black and white.
Why haven't I used red more in my artwork?
I am challenging myself to do this. Make a work that uses red as its subject.

Time passes.

I just looked back through my collected works and see that red is used liberally, but never just by itself. I seems that it would look just flat without the contrasting colors of turq or green.

Nevermind.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:07 PM

    Hi Blogger, I am enjoying some idle time and looking to see what white will bring up. this post is certainly interesting and informative. white is a good word to bring into the conversation. Great post. Enjoy your day!

    ReplyDelete

  2. I started to feel better after reading this article.

    ReplyDelete

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