So, I am venturing into the hot pink painting. I’ve been thinking about it for years. Talking about how much I like pink. The time has come to do it.
I remember being very taken with the film “Pretty in Pink” when it came out in 1986. It was a classic romantic teen comedy, a coming of age story by John Hughes starring Molly Ringwald as Andie. Being “from the wrong side of town” she was able to transform her image by remaking an old pink dress, then looking and feeling very “pretty”. When I was six years old, my grandmother who had been a professional seamstress taught me to sew. I have used clothes ever since to create how I feel. Sewing and clothes have always been a big, wonderful fantasy world for me. I have at times used sewing as a way to warm up to going into my studio, where the real work of creating images happens.
I am making my hot pink painting large, unapologetic. The big issue has been how to make it so the pink doesn’t look garish, like it is ready for a day at the circus. How to give it dignity.
I think I have the solution: it’s how the pink is mixing with and talking to what is around it. Once again, it is all so relative. Relationships. The importance of relationships.
(detail from pink triptych)
(detail from pink triptych)