Tag Archives: color

In Like a Lion

March rolled in cold and snowy and not too friendly; we usually have real signs of spring by now but it’s slow in coming this year. I have zero interest in winter sports or cold weather, so I sort of survive the winters waiting for the light to return and some warmth and color to appear.

Sadly, I have to give up my outside painting studio after this month. It’ll be all right; the light is actually better in my home, and I can rearrange the space to work. It’s just nice to have a dedicated place (and a real utility sink). I hope the outcome will be more work, since it’ll be right there waiting for me on insomniac nights.

A couple of odds and ends:

Pure color

Last summer I saw a wonderful exhibition of Japanese kites, some quite old. There was one with a sort of turnip pattern that I loved. I’ve been trying that pattern in some small watercolors:

Lotus Sent, Blues Installed

I’m just sending off a small lotus painting that I made for my cousin-in-law Laura. It’s 6″ x 6″ on a cradled Ampersand panel.

Laura’s Lotus, 2014, acrylic on board, 6″ x 6″

And here’s a photograph of an installation of panels custom-made for an unusual alcove in a very modern living room:

Blue Flags, 2013, each 6″ x 6″, acrylic on board

And here’s a little tribute to the Boulder wind. There are many ways to explore color…

Sophie Munns’ Biodiversity Art

I’ve worked as a writer, editor, and author in the organic foods world for many years, and the connections between art and agriculture are rich and evolving (see a 2009 post about art and ag on my previous Red Thread Studio blog here). Australian painter Sophie Munns is a wonderful artist who explores these connections via her Homage to the Seed projects. She has several sites well worth your time, including this beautiful Tumblr blog from one small seed.

Sophie’s vibrant, luscious art touches on ideas about fertility, diversity, the chaos and order of nature and the magnificence of the plant world — all in a beautiful maze of patterns and color. Here is her Christmas card art for the Global Crop Diversity Trust:

Sophie Munns’ artwork for Global Crop Diversity Trust card

Art and agriculture is a theme I’ll likely explore more here – I’m on the advisory board of a new group that’s formed to possibly start a nonprofit organization fostering these connections, and I bought the site name artandag.com several years ago and plan to develop it soon. Stay tuned! And go explore Sophie’s work – she is an inspiration.