Musings on Creativity: The Color Red

Colors are my passion, as I always told my children. Looking at and working with color gives me joy and makes me feel happy. Sounds simple, so I have decided to analyze color a bit more. I will be looking at different colors in the coming weeks to try and figure out their personality. Why do we like that color, how does it make you feel, when should we use it in art, fashion or decorating?
I am going to start out brave and talk about the color red. This is a color that I was told by an art teacher years ago that I should explore because I hardly ever paint with it. Well, I have painted with it, as I found when browsing my files:

Ok, it is true that I seem to use red as a strong accent color, but red is strong, almost overpowering.
How do you feel about red?
I feel that red equals passion, romance, the heart, strength, intensity. Try and put into words quickly how you feel when you see the color red. I see lipstick, thick color, fun to play with, but too much is over doing it, at least to my taste.
Red is fun to play with, as I tried with my thick, luscious oil pastels:

Red is found in nature and when it is, it shows up very prominently:

Red is a juicy, intense color that makes a statement as to who it is, a pepper

tomatoes

a pomegranate

an apple

and the ubiquitous geranium

Red seems to be all around me. I love its’ intensity, romance and passion. Not too much, but a hint of red is just enough.

More musings at: Follow Your Passion.

Joye’s artwork can be purchased here.