Monday, December 05, 2005

a good day to stay in

...which I did, except for an early morning appointment followed by an hour in Borders. Wandering in bookstores is a natural de-stresser for me and this was no exception. Bought two CDs - Stravinsky's Firebird/Petruchka and a Mozart quartet. Haven't played them yet, though. I almost said I played hookey today because I was printing all day: but I wasn't playing hookey (or even hockey) , I was WORKING. Just wasn't doing paperwork, so it felt like a vacation. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, after I made a quiche for dinner, I collapsed. I am still collapsed. Some vacation. So what did I do on my "vacation"? I batik'd my two remaining silk scarf blanks. The first one is one is crepe de chine done mostly in chino and nickel or black, I forget. You never know how MX dyes will take on silk. I love this one - but I am such a "brown" person that it is no surprise. The second one is silk chiffon, very transparent and not as bright as it looks in the picture. Then I went back into a few pieces of fabric I wasn't happy with, added another layer and stronger, warmer color. The spirals aren't so sweet now and I am happier with them. Then I went back into this piece of fabric, which I had printed in red and white and the red was kind of wishy-washy and the piece was boring. (Lisa - it was too structured: all the spatulas were neatly lined up in rows). So -- this morning, I PLAYED!! I added two more layers of wax, mixed up some new colors, and just painted my little heart out. It makes me smile.

Here is a detail. So I have a pile of these colorful, cheerful, un-muddy fabrics. And, here is the odd part: I love looking at these cottons but they don't have any place in my current work. I can't use them. At least, not right now.
The pschology of color is fascinating: I know because I have studied it. Yet, I let myself be talked into a fuschia suit to wear in Hilary's wedding 13 years ago. Everybody told me how gorgeous it looked on me: I could not wait to get home and get it off. Brown. Give me brown any time. Or aubergine. Muted colors. But not fuchsia or turquoise. At least, not in large doses. And no pastels, please. Not so you'd notice them, anyway.
Color is a funny thing - affecting your mood, your body temperature, yous physical being. Red literally increases your heart rate and pale blue makes you feel cold. I took that blog color quiz and it told me I was blue and green or turquoise, or some such thing. Bah!
I want to be brown and olive green! What about you???

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh no - not structure! I do like the final piece. Nice movement.

And I love the brown scarf.

You know you said you don't like brown at the top of the post and by the bottom you want to wear brown. Maybe you should test drive the scarf!

I saw Stravinsky's Rite of Spring at the Met many years ago. Wow - wow - it was a fabulous ballet. And we had awesome seats - I think second row balcony. There are definitely times I miss NYC.

Anonymous said...

Hi there, Stranger! Orange keeps making its way into my work and although I think of red and black most often, last year's work shows a lot of olive green and ochre in all of their beautiful variations. Go figure here as well!

Rayna said...

Mary - Arts Guild of Rahway, Sat, Feb. 11. Soy wax batik - (with textile paints) 10-2.

And while I love to wear brown, I don't use it in my quilts.

Cathy said...

Right now, greens are in with me along with browns and deep dark orange. I have some chino dye come to think of it. Why didn't I use it when I did all those fabrics last week??

Rayna said...

Citra-solve eats plastic. Use a glass dish if you're going to put it in something. I put the cotton ball directly against the opening of the bottle.

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