The Colour Red.

It appears that I am into the reds at the moment - still with the memory of my favorite rose bush and the amount of large deep red flowers it produced all summer long fresh in my mind. The above painting is just finished and although the photo doesn't quite do it justice (a bit of glare at the top) it does give a general idea. It is 30 x 40" and doesn't have a title yet, though so far I have included it in the Vagabond series. It may need a few adjustment in a while, after I have gotten to know it better.

I love red but find it a difficult colour to work with for several reasons; it is very intense and dominating as well as dark in value with no real possibility for lightening it without loosing its character and ending up with unsatisfactory pinks or oranges which I don't like at all - at least not when I just wanted a light true red! ​All other colours have lovely lighter versions that still remain true to themselves so that you have a much greater range to work with. And I find too much red just TOO MUCH - but sometimes accents are not enough. So red is a challenge for me - and I will have to keep trying to manage it. Some years back I was in the same situation and did a whole string of red paintings until I was sick of red and had to stop. Some of those paintings have weathered well - many not so much!

I must be in a complaining mood at the moment and I have to confess: I don't like November either! Everything is getting colder and darker as well as wetter, which I find depressing, with just more of the same to look forward to for the next few months - and I'm surely not alone in this - but I will just have to soldier on until the light starts to return and everything seems lighter and more positive again.

Which of course it will!​​