Saturday, June 20, 2009

A Little Bit Of Red

The Chateau de Chillon sits on the edge of Lac Leman, which is what Americans call Lake Geneva. To take this photo, I had to climb up a short ladder and hang partly out a window. The overlapping sections of roof with their terra cotta tiles won out over my fear of heights.. Discovering the red geraniums in a far-off window was a nice surprise. Several years ago, the Smithsonian mounted an exhibit about the history of the paint-by-number set. They became a huge fad. Although we now think of them as kitsch, the prototypes were created by well-trained artists using the fundamentals of good design. The owner of the company encouraged the artists to add a little bit of red somewhere in each canvas. He believed it added excitement and drew the viewer into the painting. So here I have it----beautifully textured roofs and a little bit of red.