The Color Green

While walking to my studio recently in the rainy spring air, I noticed tiny shoots of green beginning to emerge. The air smelled fresh and new, the way only spring air does. I thought about my artist friend Carolyn Nelson, who recently said, “I miss the color green.” Having moved to Colorado from North Carolina, she’s used to the lush landscapes that continue to inform her work. Her hand-stitched fabric art is filled with the colors and rhythms of grasses blowing in the wind. It reminds me of drives across the eastern plains, and moving with the wind as it blows through grassy fields like a wild living thing.

Her thoughtful son Brinkley asked me to create a custom painting for her of Russell Lakes, one of her favorite green spaces in Colorado. We even got the tiny grandkids involved and they each got to make a little green mark on the painting. The collaboration was so fun and it stuck with me because I’ve caught myself avoiding greens on my palette. So these days I’m giving green another try. There are new spring paintings in the studio and the door is open to visitors most days. Be sure to check out Carolyn’s art on her website and her show with her son Brink Messick this summer at Pinon. Below are some of her magical hand stitched works..