Red, Irresistible Red

Having just finished the season of Rudolph's nose and holiday bows, I was starting to think about spring bud green and winter river water blue, but red came back for another visit tonight in the form of a female cardinal.  

The brightly billed bird was duller than her flashy male counterpart would be, but she suddenly appeared outside at our window ledge, fluttering up against the glass and pacing back and forth at the window.  She looked curious and excited.  She was a very cute bird, with bright red accents on her beak and hat and wings! 

 

Red.  No other color screams for attention like it.  Cardinal red, sports car red, fire engine red, lipstick red.  Powerful, visceral, siren-like red.
Last month I was at MOMA in NYC, for one of Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla's performances, Stop, Repair, Prepare: Variations on Ode to Joy for a Prepared Piano (2008)  How visually satisfying the artist's red shirt was against the black piano!

I've indulged in the color red in many of my artworks.  An early painting titled, "WONDERFUL RED THINGS", was just a catalog of some of my favorite red things such as pomegranates, antheriums, etc. painted all together in one composition.  Done during the pre-digital days, I have only slide records of that painting now, but my fascination with red things remains. Below are a very few of the red-color dominated artworks I have created over the years:

ALINE'S FLOWERS, porcelain, private collection. ©JoyKreves'11

  

PATRON, Flashe & gold paint on paper ©JoyKreves'11.

Red Chalice, private collection, ©JoyKreves '11

SCHOLAR'S VASE, sculpture, ©JoyKreves '11

TREASURE KEEPER, private collection, ©Joy Kreves '11

The little cardinal was clearly attracted to something and wanted in.  She wasn't attacking her reflection, as some male cardinals do.  She looked and fluttered but would not turn away.  I got my camera out and the flash didn't scare her away.  I turned off the lights.  

She stayed.  For a good 10 minutes she tried and tried to get in.  I thought birds slept at night!  What was keeping her up so late?  I had some plants on a tea cart by that window so I moved them to another room in case she was thinking they looked like an inviting place to spend the night.  She stayed.  Didn't she have a mate to attend to?

I moved the candlesticks away, remembering that crows are attracted to shiny things.  Maybe their silver called to her.  She stayed.  My daughter reached her hand out but the bird skittered away to the far edge of the window ledge.  Guess she wasn't looking for a human friend.  Then I realized that we had a bright red napkin sitting on the dining room table in her sight, the same color as her mate should be, and that I was wearing a bright red sweater.  I changed my clothes to black.  I removed the red napkin.  Finally she turned around and flew away!

It seems it was the red she was attracted to, and which kept her awake in the nighttime when she should have been nestling her head beneath her wing.  Who can blame her for staying awake to try and meet all that big, healthy, attractive red that was calling to her from our house?  I hope she soon finds it or returns to it in the form of another cardinal though.  I'd hate to think my sweater or napkin lured her into loneliness or promiscuity.