Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Open Studio Fun

It was really great to visit the Joanell Connolly's studio last weekend. There was a number of fun people there to chat with, great art to see and purchase, and even a wonderful poetry reading by Gabrielle.

As Gabrielle read several of her poems I felt like was transported to wonderous places. She also had books of her poetry there and I fell for a poem called

Then There is Red.
At one point in my quilt artmaking career I purposely sought out using red. It had never been a favorite and I felt challenged to move outside my comfort colors. Some of the results of that experimenting (way back in 1997) was the piece.
Don't Think Yourself in a Jail.
The red challenge was just the beginning of my continuing study of color.

Gabrielle's poem says:

Red is everything
you ever wanted it to be.

Sure, its got
a bad rap:
red with embarrassment
or sunburn

and once
politically.

But I'll take red
any day--never
a stop for me
but full on go.

It's an enthusiastic color,
not at all shy.
Bulls love it and
they can't be wrong.

Where would Minnie
be without her
red and white
polka dots
or the day without
a red letter?

Foget about Hester.
I mean, at least she got to wear red.
After all,
it could have been
puce.

I loved the poem. It was perfect.
If you want to begin your own study of color you can download free color lessons from my website: www.rosehughes.com
But, if you want to see where red, purple, yellow, blue.............. are taking me now you can always check out my work at my open studio. This coming Fri-Sun. December 12-14.

I wish you all a 'red' letter day! ~Rose

1 comment:

natalie. beyond the reef said...

What a great piece!
I can't wait to visit Rose's studio this weekend.
Who knows what one will find...

As for the blog, well, the title of that quilt,
"Don't Think Yourself in a Jail"
hit me between the eyes.

Thank you, Rose, for the insight.
Oh, and for the color lesson - how nice to have these resources, and to have YOU!!