Friday, July 2, 2010

The Rainbow Connection

If I have to choose a single hue, like many redheads, I would say that my favourite colour is green.  However, I am drawn to many other colours in the spectrum and, as my logo for Serendipity Patchwork & Quilting indicates, am quite partial to rainbows.  I've been collecting rainbow images for a while but rainbows are strangely elusive (I don't live in Portland!). This rainbow photo was taken a couple of years ago from my studio:
I often look out my window for inspiration and choosing the next colourplay challenge was no exception. There is abundant bird life at Copacabana - kookaburras, galahs, herons, rosellas, corellas, wattle birds, fairy wrens, sea eagles, pelicans, black swans and more. One of the most common bird species in my neighbourhood is rainbow lorikeets - they squawk, swoop and soar across the valley and feed on the banksia flowers around the house. Like rainbows, they can be difficult to catch on the camera - they are constanly moving and hide in the foilage.  Glynis kindly made these feeding images available for me:

 
And I snapped this lorikeet with my new camera and prepared this palette for our next challenge - predominantly green with generous highlights of blue; orange-red and orange-yellow. Please don't feel limited to bird imagery - just enjoy those wonderful pure saturated colours.

Coincidentally, Kermit shares some of this palette (and Blondie doesn't seem to mind). Let the swooping and soaring begin!

8 comments:

Françoise said...

Wow! I like it. But that green is very very... green...

Gerrie said...

LOL! Brenda - you need sun for a rainbow, so I have not seen many in Portland.

I think this will be a nice challenge for the summer.

Nikki said...

I love the colors! I need to borrow a little heat from the birds.

Terry Grant said...

OK, this makes me HAPPY!

Diane Perin said...

What a fun color palette! I love the inspiration. It's hard to imagine having rainbow lorikeets flying around in the yard! At the San Francisco Zoo, there used to be an exhibit where you walked into a big enclosure full of rainbow lorikeets, and they would sell you little cups of some sort of sugary syrup nectar, and the lorikeets would land on your arms and hands to drink from the cups. A bit highlight with kids! I think I have a picture or two of Caroline with a rainbow lorikeet on her head!

Kristin L said...

I'm the one who gets to see rainbows every day, but our birds here in Hawaii are not nearly as brilliant as your lorikeets! I rarely use such vibrant colors, so this challenge should be different for me, and lots of fun.

natsumi said...

Pretty birds and love the their colors!! So Bright!

CarolynPhi said...

Brenda:
What an absolutely gorgeous view you have from your studio window! If I were there, I'd scarcely do anything else but stare at that heavenly site.
I'm a rainbow lover as well, and have a small book of rainbows, as well as several photos I've taken myself.
I love your Twelve by Twelve project!!! I'm a member of a group of thirteen ladies who call ourselves "Bakers Dozen," inspired by your wonderful group. We're just finishing our first projects, and are anxiously awaiting the "big reveal" of these quilts on Sunday. Thank you for the inspiration!!! Carolyn