Quick sketch of Amaryllis in flower. In our kitchen today. #bandofsketchers prompt was in/inside. I have another plant in flower and others putting up flower spikes. Watercolour on cartridge paper.
Tag: Red
Amaryllis
It’s great how these bulbs become dormant after flowering, eventually the old leaves die down… Then they spring back into life when you water them about this time of year. Little and often is my way of doing it. Water but don’t drench. The bulbs swell, then suddenly a couple of leaves sprout, growing rapidly with a flower spike. I have kept one bulb for ten years. Each time it grows bigger. But don’t be eager to put it in a larger pot. It takes a few years, it likes being crammed in a pot. I only move them into the next size up pot. My oldest has grown a secondary bulb that also flowers….
Colours
So colours represent specific emotions? Maybe? But who sets them. Is it a historical thing? Some countries have black as their colour of mourning. But others use white, and who knows what else might be favoured elsewhere. Red is hot, fast, speed, fast cars are often red. But what about red for danger. Traffic lights, live wires and of course blood? But red can be sweet like fruit too.
Green has been found to be calming, and maybe blue too. Linked with the colours of growing plants. Green indoor plants can calm workers. Now green walls of plants are fashionable.
Pink for girls, blue for boys. But a couple of hundred years ago it was the other way round. Perhaps our use of colours to represent emotions is just fashion and fad!
Memory. Captain Scarlet
We had to discuss limited and free colour palettes today. I chose this red car from the children’s TV series Captain Scarlet. It was one of my favourite series when I was growing up. Sometimes a bit frightening. It was about the Mysterons from Mars who were trying to invade the Earth.
Red was my favourite colour when I was little. Not pink, never blue, just red. I don’t know why…..
I found the car in a charity shop and had to have it. I like the limited colours of red, black and silver. I had to have it.
Another black and white cat?
If you do a line drawing of your cat and you want to fill it in with colour, you don’t have to use black. I’ve used green and red as complementary colours. It’s a very quick sketch and it’s meant to capture the cat without over working it. I think even a little experiment like this can send you off in a new direction.
Crocosmia Lucifer
I’m watching Gardeners World on BBC TV. They arr showing a compilation programme of the best bits from 2020. One section was about the crocosmia plants that you grow in the garden and the fact that their anticedants came from South Africa.
My garden has crocosmia Lucifer growing in it in the late summer, but its several years old now and I think it’s time to get new bulbs so I’ve painted this to remind myself to get some more..
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Red
Red is my favourite colour. It was never pink. I had a red dress with white dots on it when I was little. I loved the shade of it. Bright red, cadmium red probably.
I’ve always loved autum leaves when they are red. There is something about the transformation from green. And I love copper beech trees, and strawberry jelly. And having my hair dyed red.. Yes I just love that colour.
Flying tonight?
No, it’s a twig from a tree projecting from the side of a photo. When I duplicated it and mirrored it I got two birdlike objects, some stunted tree shapes, and the silhouette of the fence we were walking past. The sky had a wonderful glow, purples shading to red and then glowing golden orange. It was so clear, like crystal glass. So many ways to play with photos and come up with something new.
Berries
Don’t know what these berries are on but they are beautiful, they were along a track downhill from the canal. There were also pieces of old wood that had bracket fungus growing on them. Autumn is a lovely time of year when strong colours can ping out. Looking at the tangle of branches on the left hand side I might play with it and duplicate the pattern.
Red
Beautiful tree I saw on a walk. I love red trees, but we don’t get many in this country.. I’m not sure what species this is. It does not look like an Acer which are the the ones that look like maple leaves? Are they called Japanese maples? Anyway, this was before the wind got up and blew them all away!
I would love to visit America to see the ‘fall’, every time I see photos of the East Coast at this time of year the colours of the forests are magnificent. I guess this is the last chance to photograph a red tree this year?
