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When in Doubt, Wear Red

7/19/2021

8 Comments

 
"When in Doubt, Wear Red" -  mixed media on cradled wood panel, 12 x 16   Ready to hang.  Available August 11-12 at Fusion Gallery.
WHEN IN DOUBT, WEAR RED
- Bill Blass


You, dear reader, who so graciously accepted my prediction that space helmets would be all the rage this fall, might also have been wondering if RED is the color to wear in space.

I say YES!

As an artist, I have a love/hate relationship with a lot of colors.  Red is one of them.  It screams of power and passion and also blood and fire.  There is a lot of emotion in red.  

I am drawn to red paintings, red dresses, red walls.  And apparently red houses.  Yet on my body, red is something I shy away from.  Take a look inside my closet and you'll see black and gray and white and maybe blue.  Neutral and nothing else.  Red feels overwhelming. 
Picture
When In Doubt, Wear Red
For this painting, a pen and ink mounted on board and then painted, red was the only choice for her shoes.  Isn't she, in her way, Dorothy? In another land, dressed in her finery, adventuring with the locals...as long as she has those shoes, she can always find her way home.

Picture
so much gratitude to instagram.com/burnsidestudio for this pic
Dear reader....an anniversary of sorts passed this week.  Five years since being hit by a car while cycling. What do we do with these things?  We make art.  

A book's spine holds all the pages together⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
yet lets the reader open, thumb, sift, devour.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
As the book ages, so does the spine⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
pages come away⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
seams split⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
the book lays wide open⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
splayed to the world without resistance⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
can you hear it sigh⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
and surrender?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Splayed⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
my own spine⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
age and injury⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
sigh and surrender⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
softly, gently open⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
and now the light gets in.⠀
8 Comments
Sylvia Larkin link
7/19/2021 09:59:48 am

Lola,the photo of your spine and the amazing words speak volumes. Yes, what can we do but surrender when life deals us these experiences? Create,create,create we must!

Reply
lola (jen)
7/19/2021 04:16:36 pm

Sylvia! Kindred spine spirit - thank you my friend. Create we MUST!

Reply
Dotty Seiter link
7/19/2021 10:26:50 am

Lola: only five years? already five years? either way, wow. Yup, make art.

And those red shoes! Absolutely What to Wear.

Reply
lola (jen)
7/19/2021 04:17:09 pm

Dotty! Making art, making art. And eyeing red shoes!

Reply
Carol Kitchell link
7/19/2021 02:13:23 pm

Red. Yes. Drawn as if by a magnet, but couldn't wear it for most of my adult life. Then I started to. Now I don't know. Red like the cardinal and red like air-touched blood. And that picture. Again, we're joined. My spine - a wrecked landscape, an imprisoning carapace I carry around. (Mine from congenital problems and a car accident when I was a teen. And years of the conditioning of work postures.) Powerful post, love. Powerful Post.

Reply
lola (jen)
7/19/2021 04:18:47 pm

Carol! "imprisoning carapace I carry around" - holy powerful words, batman! We are joined. Red and spine and so much more. Sending the biggest of hugs....

Reply
Carol Edan link
7/20/2021 02:55:45 am

Fly Fly Fly~ You AMAZE me!

Reply
Lola (Jen)
7/20/2021 09:49:09 pm

Carol! Building wings as I fall.....that's what we do! xoxox

Reply



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Here's the blue wild, where
tiny dreamers ride beasts, speak
​ birdsong, hold the moon.

(by poet Mary W. Cox)
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