THE COLOR RED

My witty husband said my first picture should be of the balance of our bank account.

To that, I can only say, thank goodness for our small overdraft protection.

Red will be the most difficult color for me to do, because red is probably my least favorite color. 

I'm talking about red...real red....Marilyn Monroe red...or fire engine red.

Throw a little orange in it...or some blue...and I like it a lot better.

Nevertheless, I was able to find a few photos that are fitting.

Red, of course is one of the primary colors.

Red
Blue
Yellow

Out of those three colors, plus white, all other colors are made.  ALL of them!  Isn't that amazing? 

http://www.colormatters.com/colortheory.html


Anyway...back to red.

Red is the color of valentines, of course.

So, I guess it's fitting that I am featuring this color so close to Valentine's Day.

It's also the color of something I dearly love.

Red Chiles!!!!!!!

Here are some, drying on a roof-top and hanging from the rafters of a shop in Hatch, New Mexico, where the very best red chiles come from!

From these beauties, you can make this.

Yes, that is red...not brown.  And, it is tuly red HOT!!!

You won't find the recipe for it in this.....

but you can find lots and lots of good recipes.  This is my 'go-to' cook book........

this and The Pioneer Woman's website.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/

Be careful, though.  That woman might make us all fat!  Fat, but happy!!!

Speaking of happy....this always makes me feel happy.

It says, 'somebody in Kayenta, Az LOVES YOU!'

My sweet sister/daughter/friend, Samanta gave it to me.

I remember so many happy times with her in my kitchen.  Of course, those glass shelves in my kitchen window with all the colored jars and bottles DOES have one that is red.

I did the 'cartoon' application to this photo because the dust on the shelf was showing in the picture and I didn't want to clean it.

I'm just being honest.

My dear friend, Lori, brought me this fridge magnet when she went on her Alaskan cruise.

And I have this vintage treasure that I got at the swap meet for a quarter.

Our last name is Baker....so, of course, this has a prominent spot in our kitchen!

I couldn't help but take a picture of this old pick-up truck when Lori and I went to Tubac.

And these cactus buds that I saw in the patio at De Grazia's Gallery In the Sun.

While searching through my old photos, looking for 'red', I found this picture I took several years ago of my sweet daughter-in-law's grandfather's old barn. 

See how pink it all looks?  I did a painting from this photograph and gave it to her.  Bless her heart.  I say that, because I slavishly painted exactly what I saw in the photo.  She now has a painting of her grandfather's barn which looks as if it was painted with Pepto Bismol.  I urge her to rip the canvas off the stretcher bars, throw it in the trash and use the wood in her chimenea.  Please?  I beg of you!

I also had this picture of Poppy's barn.

Since that roof is actually red instead of pink, I thought I'd do a timed painting of this picture for today's RED blog.

Here it is.

I don't know what possessed me to do a timed painting of a building, but I'm glad I did it.  Even in this unfinished stage, I think it's better than the first one I  painted of it....in spite of the glaring error in the  proportions of the right side of the barn.

Speaking of buildings, several years ago, while traveling in hubby's 18-wheeler, we came upon this wonderful, old-fashioned country store, in LIKELY, CALIFORNIA.  It reminded me of the store my family had in Roswell, New Mexico.  But we never had such a really neat sign painted on our storefront.

It really brings me back to a time when life was much more simple.

I'll drink to that!

I am grateful for every color in the Creator's rainbow!

TUBAC, ARIZONA

Would you rather live here????????????????

Or here!

Actually, the first picture isn't even in Tubac. It's in Green Valley. But there are hundreds of sub-divisions all over Southeastern Arizona that look just like it. Every house or townhouse or apartment is that same drab grey/tan color. The color of desert dirt.

What I want to know is why....when all these cotton candy colors are just as easy to paint on all that stucco as brown is.

All these beauties are in Barrio de Tubac.

Just look at that! Isn't it stunning?




and enticing..........

and cheerful.....

and inviting!

Many of these townhomes have roof top patios for watching the sunset...or the sunrise....or the moon rising, fat and luminous in a black velvet, star- studded Arizona sky.

Even the doggone trash cans are colorful and cute!

Eye Candy!

That's what it is.


Now, let's go to Tubac...the historical little town where there's even more eye candy.

Tubac is an historical old village with a beautiful mountain backdrop. You can't go anywhere in Arizona without seeing mountains somewhere in the distance. These are the Santa Ritas.




Tubac has lots of history. It was established in 1752. This little church has been around a good while, but not that long. Because in 1848, Tubac was all but destroyed in an Apache raid.




But we're not into history today.



This is what we're after! Galleries! Shops! More eye candy!!!!

I just can't tell ya' whether this dog is real...or a sculpture. Could be either one.




Many years before I moved to Tucson, I visited Tubac. One of the most interesting shops featured beautifully crafted copper fountains....most in the shape of desert plants.

Like this one.




Man Oh Man! Look at it today!!!!!! There's everything you can imagine, including the bathroom sink!




There is a veritable garden of flowers. None of which requires water. That's a good thing on a desert.

There's lots of Mexican pottery critters. Big ones.....

and little ones.....

cohabiting with the metal ones.....

Does this blog make my tongue look long?

Hi Yo Copper! Away!!!

If you're not old, like me, you won't 'get' that reference to The Lone Ranger's horse which was named 'Silver.'

I'm grateful for all the beautiful colors in this world. And I'm grateful my friend asked me along for the ride today. And I'm grateful that eye candy doesn't put pounds on my old body!

What are you grateful for today?