Revisiting the Color Pink

In 2011 I spent the entire year focused on the color pink. I added it in to pet portraiture work and in to my mosaics. I concentrated on it because I hated it, I figured it would be a terrific challenge to find original ways to use a hue that is so laden with stereotypes and misunderstanding. I am a huge fan of the artist Jeff Soto and he often uses the color pink in the most amazing ways. I think his work was a big inspiration for me to adopt the color pink and make it my own.  The end result of my experiment is that I fell in love with the color pink.

Bella
© rebecca collins artpaw.com

"Pixie"
© rebecca collins artpaw.com

Flash Forward 2016: Lisa Huffaker is a pal that is big into zine making, you might even call her the "zine queen" and she has launched her White Rock Zine Machine down at Deep Vellum books. Her next round of zines will be on the theme of color and she has asked me to contribute a zine based on the color pink. Of course I jumped at the chance to work on a collaborative project that is all about color. There will be three visual artists and nine writers creating one hundred colorful tiny zines each in a rainbow of hues. These hand crafted books will be available in an old fashion baseball trading card dispenser. For just a quarter you can spin the knob and be the proud owner of a tiny book of poetry and art.  The color zine event launch is October 7th at 7:00 p.m. at Deep Vellum books.

This weekend I will be cutting paper and starting the assembly work on this labor intensive labor of love. I am using the project as an excuse to revisit pink and will be posting about the color here on the blog in September and on my facebook pages as well. So stay tuned for trivia, art links and more on pink.  I will also be creating trading card sized mosaics and assemblages in the color pink this month. Below are just a few examples of the direction my personal work is heading.

Pink is not for Sissies!