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Wednesday 5 February 2014

C is for

Catching my breath I think! Seriously here we are on day three and the wheels on this bus are just starting to go round., even if the driver is a little rusty.

I originally intended C to be for Creativity and I was quite happy with that until about 10 minutes before I started writing this post. Creativity is a great word, but is also starting to be a little over used and not just by those of us in the craft world. Did you know there is actually a religion called Creativity - founded in Florida and every year between April 15 - 20 there is a world creativity and innovation week in Islamabad? So I did an about turn and had a re-think.

Several 'c' words down the line I finally settled for Colour. There are some phrases around this word that amuse me such as 'colour your judgement' - it that someone using a set of paints on a magistrate? How about if you are 'feeling off colour' - can you only be seen in black and white? And finally 'she passed with flying colours' - did the paint tubes haved wings?

Colour is something we all struggle with in our art at times. Understanding the colour wheel is a start and if you don't own one I recommend you get yourself one. It really is a great help. And what about the colour in our lives? I don't just mean green grass, blue sky (can't quite remember that one) and red post boxes. 

The colour, and shade, in our everyday life comes from things such as music and conversation, theatre and books, laughter and tears. And we all have to live through these. If life was just happy all the time i.e. one colour, think of the type of things we would miss out on; hugs from our family, a handkerchief from an understanding friend, being transported by the words on a page. There is no colour wheel for life only a multitude of experiences and emotions. But wouldn't it be a very dark world without any of it?

Well here is the art for today
This is a very recent piece of artwork. Glenda and I were having a play day a few weeks ago and we were doing the three colour tag challenge. The background was coloured using Scattered Straw, Squeezed Lemonade and Weathered Wood Distress inkpads. I then used white gesso with the Climbing Vine stencil. Make sure the inks are completely dry before you try this step.

The stamp is from the Serenity A5 stamp set, which I coloured with Coloursoft pencils. Finally I stamped the sentiment from the Tranquility set.

Finally, if you are having art trouble with colour I suggest you visit Glenda's blog post - it is very inspiring. And if you are having life colour troubles then look for the light and shade.

See you tomorrow with the letter D.
 

5 comments:

Jan said...

Another great blog post Lesley your like a little ray of sunshine in blogland. Thanks for sharing xx Jan

veronica said...

lovely tag Lesley - and some profound thoughts to go with it

vinny said...

another beautiful tag and I am really enjoying your thoughts which go with them x Lavinia

Paula (PEP) said...

I love the way your water lilies are echoed by the climbing vine stencilled images - it's the shapes I think. Colour is definitely vital & I have to agree with your about Glenda's article. The colour wheel is coming alive more & more but it certainly has some surprises too (funnily I was thinking about it just yesterday in relation to a journal page I've been working on) & your post has just given me the perfect analogy. However we plan (according to the colour wheel or life) there are unplanned surprises to negotiate & sometimes the outcome can be deeper than the original plan. One can only truly appreciate the colours if one has known darkness/shade………. Much food for thought once again.
Paula (PEP)

Miranda said...

This is such a vibrant lovely tag and I like the use of gesso afterwards. Will give that a try someday.....Colour is the most important thing in my life next to Love I think.....but we are not into the letter L OL.....I like the expressions about colour that you've used and have a little add; Colour my words with your thoughts.....as we all have our own 'coloured' view on everything!
The art is to become transparent but keep all the colours alive.
I am getting philosophic by your posts.....beware xxMiranda