Monday 4 April 2011

An ongoing colour story

On my way to work last Saturday morning I came across a butterfly on the pavement, and he appeared to be windblown and a little distraught. I don't know how I knew he was distraught,just general intuition I guess. I put my finger down, not expecting anything to happen, and he crawled onto my finger, much to my surprise. So I held my hand into my chest to give him some protection from the wind, because it was a very windy.
I considered my options and decided to find a flower for him to hop onto, but I only came across white flowers, and he showed no interest in them. Now the best part of my story is I have never seen a butterfly this colour before. Orange and yellow splodges. No intricate veins, no even patterning, No, splodges of colour. I think Pacasso painted him, and God let him and I have a few minutes together.

 I sew and play with fabric because I love colour. I always have. My mother was a photographic artist, so her homes were always filled with beautiful colours, large floral arrangements, objects de arte and fabric.I particularly like the Impression painters and their desire to use colour in different ways to create new colours.
In my shop I get to to play with lots of fabrics and colours, and to see what happens when different colours come together. I think thats why I love the Kaffe Fassett ranges, the bold use of colour and large floral prints.To me Kaffe has broken all the rules of colour combinations. I love that he puts large print on large print and it works, because it makes another colour. It expands our eye to other posibilites. Not all matchy matchy.
But back to my butterfly story: we stayed together for 4 city blocks, arrived at my shop, and I was just about to share my Picasso friend  with students arriving when he let go of his grip, flew out into the traffic, I cringed, and a gust of wind took him up above the awning, out of the way of the ongoing traffic, and on to safety.

What a wonderful experience, an unarranged meeting with nature that brings a warm carming and centred feeling and a story that can be told to others.

Love,  Delma

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