A COLORFUL RED PALLETE

" A friend is a close companion on rainy days, someone to share with through every phase. Forgiving and helping to bring out the best, believing the good and forgetting the rest."-Anonymous

RED MONTH When I think of FEBRUARY the color RED comes to mind. Valentine's Day is around the corner. There are RED hearts and cupids everywhere, reminding us to go shopping again for gifts for our loved ones. I haven't recovered from Christmas shopping yet. I am seeing many RED dresses for sale in the mall with matching RED shoes and purses. I saw a RED Prada shoes. I wasn't tempted to even try them because I know the devil wears Prada. Last Friday, it was National Wear RED Day. Women were asked to wear RED.

RED IN MANY SPLENDORED NAMES It is s a primary color. Sometimes there's no such thing as RED. That's only a small sampling, though, of what you'd have to deal with if you walked into an art supply store and asked for "some red paint, please." "Do you want vermillion, cadium, Indian oxide, alizarin crimson, Acra, Venetian, or Mars? So many choices, huh? When I read novels, I noticed many authors would write sexy RED names like scarlett, crimson and rose? When I go to jewelry stores RED means garnet or ruby. When one is in debt, they say, " In the RED." When one is treated with very grand or impressive welcome, we say "roll out the RED carpet." When I walked into the hospital, I see RED every where, meaning I smell "blood." RED is the color of blood. So many names and terminologies. Could you imagine a world without RED?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!! In our family we have two birthdays in February. My hubby and youngest son are celebrating their birthdays this month. Tomorrow (February 4th) is a special day, and as usual this blog space is dedicated to my special friend, close companion during rainy and sunny days, and faithful husband for 36 years, who happily turned ???????? years old. Shhhh....sorry, I couldn't disclose how young he is. Last year we celebrated his birthday on board the gigantic Crown Princess during our cruise to the Southern Caribbean last February 2007. Our cabin door was festively decorated with RED balloons. Dinner that night was RED wine and RED Fillet Mignon. He likes rare but I like my steak medium (not too RED). Dessert was jumbo fresh strawberries dipped in brown and white chocolates. My husband is a chocoholic. What a RED birthday to remember!

INTERESTING FACT ABOUT HIS NAME: My husband's full name is Rhodamin but we call him Rhod for short. His father being an artist picked this name. It originated from a RED chemistry color called Rhodamine. This color or dye is obtained by heating an alkyl aminophenol w/ phthalic and hydride. Interesting huh? RED is PASSIONATE color and my hubby lives up to his name. He's passionate about many things- long marriage, big family, grand kids, career, latest technology gadget, huge flat screen TV, church work, Fil-Am volunteer, traveling and cruising. He is supportive about my passion for art but he is not passionate about art and museums. Although all his life, he's surrounded by artists-artistic wife, a father who is a scenic artist and two sons who are graphic artists. RED is a HOT color. He is true to my car's plate # HOT ROD. RED is also a BOLD color. If you ever watch a bull fight, the matador challenges the bull with a RED flag. When my hubby challenges me, his lips and face turned RED too. He's fair and get REDDISH easily. No kidding!
A PAINTING FOR A WONDERFUL HUSBAND My husband is an electronic engineer. He works for a defense company that makes sonar system. One day he asked me to do a painting for him. He wanted me to paint something for his office. So I painted this oil painting ( 18" x 23") entitled "Airborne Sonar AN/ AQS-18 (V)." This painting is now on display in his office. I blogged about this painting last February 2007 and I am posting it again for those who have not seen it and new to my blog.
CLOSE-UP VIEW OF THE PAINTING
I had only done one painting for my hubby. I think I should paint more for him after supporting and loving me all these years. One day, I met a male and unmarried artist in his early thirties. He told me...."You're very lucky to have a husband who could support you, so you could paint full-time. I wished I could find a wife who could support me too and paint full-time like you." Gee, he sounded like Van Gogh. Van Gogh was able to paint full-time because his brother Theo was there to support him most of his life. He didn't take a day job and paint at night. At mid-life, I think it's a good life to paint without financial worries. Thanks to a wonderful husband.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET-ART!