friday feast: a little bouquet of color + a special julie paprika giveaway

~ jama

It’s here, it’s finally here!

Happy Spring!

We must celebrate with what so many of us are craving after such a long hard winter: COLOR!

But why settle for plain blue when you can have indigo or blue moonshade? As for green, make mine Elysian. Let’s bask in the evocative names of colors and the flights of fancy they inspire. And yes, you may call me Sheba. 🙂

 

POEM FROM A COLOUR CHART OF HOUSEPAINTS
by Wendy Cope

Limeglow of leaves –
elf, sapling
in Elysian green,
she’s jitterbugging
in the forest.
She is froth, the tang
of julep, capering
among the ferns.
Passion, the firedance
of her fantasy,
fireglow of poppy
and corona, ember.
Casanova, peerless
demon, jester!
She burns, a firefly,
Apollo’s geisha.
Her sandgold hair,
spun silk kimono,
melon and lemon sorbet
on the balcony,
white wine, gardenias.
That honeysuckle year –
if he could ransom
one sunlit day!
Indigo seascape –
Melissa in cool,
blue moonshade.
Harebell, naiad,
exotic ballerina,
she commands the bay,
the midnight swell,
the surf, pale gossamer.
Autumnal in brogues,
beige twinset, russet
tweeds, she takes
coffee at eleven,
sherry at noon –
dreams of Tarragona,
castanets, a man
who called her Sheba.
Her mood
is violet, nocturnal.
Aubrietia, phlox,
wisteria delight her
more than roses.
Solitude, a purple
robe, a last
long hazy evening.

~ from If I Don’t Know (Faber & Faber, 2001).

*   *   *

♥ SPECIAL JULIE PAPRIKA GIVEAWAY! ♥

To celebrate warmer days and the earth’s reawakening, we’re giving away one medium size (13″ x 19″) archival print of any one of Julie Paschkis’s paintings available at her new shop Julie Paprika! That’s right! Your choice!

Here are a few examples:

“Happy Family”
“Balanced Reader”
“Tortoise and Hare”
“Low Crow”
“Fruitful”

Gorgeous work! And any one of these (or another of your choosing) can be yours! Simply leave a comment at this post telling us what you’re most looking forward to now that Spring is here, no later than midnight (EDT) Wednesday, March 25, 2015. Giveaway open to U.S. residents only, please. Winner will be announced next Friday. Special thanks to Julie for this generous dash of Paprika in our Soup :). Good Luck!

*   *   *

♦ 2015 POETRY MONTH KIDLITOSPHERE ROUNDUP ♦

If you’re doing something special on your blog for Poetry Month in April, please email me with your information: readermail (at) jamakimrattigan (dot) com, so I can include you in my Roundup post. Can’t wait to see what everyone will be up to!

*   *   *

poetryfriday180Beautiful and gracious Catherine is hosting today’s Roundup at Reading to the Core. Throw on a silk kimono, pour yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy the full menu of poetic goodness being shared in the blogosphere this week. Is it still too cold for lemon sorbet on the balcony?

 

Yours in pale gossamer,

Sheba
xoxo

—————————————-

Copyright © 2015 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.

73 thoughts on “friday feast: a little bouquet of color + a special julie paprika giveaway”

  1. Pingback: SOL: Poetry Friday is Here! | Reading to the Core

    1. There’s snow on the ground here right now — so rare for this late in March. But it did feel like Spring the rest of the week. 🙂

      Like

  3. Would you paint your bedroom and master bath coral? We did and people think it’s a *lot* of pink! It’s not pink, but a clayey salmonish coral, that serves as the perfect backdrop for my collection of 40s floral prints.

    *Loved* the wisteria tunnel! Let me walk under it!

    As for what I’m looking forward to this spring is the hatching of a cross spider’s egg that’s in our garage. I want to be there the day the warm southeast wind blows and the spiderlings come out by the hundreds, on their tiny little silks.

    Like

    1. You have your very own Charlotte in the garage. You should have a spider cam set up so you won’t miss the big hatching day. 🙂

      Coral would be lovely as a backdrop for floral prints — not sure I could get any sleep with that much color in my bedroom, though . . .

      P.S. Did you notice the word “ransom” is in the poem? 🙂

      Like

  4. Hi Jama! What I look forward to is the birdsong, in the morning. It has started despite the winter-like weather, but I prefer my birdsong with sun!

    I do love paint chip color names. How much poetry have they inspired over the years?

    Have a glorious weekend.

    Like

    1. I love birdsong too. Have heard a little bit here, but not as much as I’d like. And the robins are late this year — I used to see them bouncing around during February. I think they’ve extended their winter vacations down South. Who can blame them?

      Like

  5. Thanks for this exuberant poem and post, Jama (or should I call you Sheba?). Though it is now snowing, I’m hanging on to those images of cascades of wisteria and effulgent poppies. What I’m most looking forward to: digging in the dirt and planting flowers and saying howdy to the earthworms. Happy First Day of Spring!

    Like

  6. What beautiful colors! I wish some of them were in my neck of the woods, but soon, I hope! And that is what I’m most looking forward too! Spring and summer COLOR!

    Like

    1. Yes, we’re starving for some color! The daffodil stems have finally come up — late this year, but we’re looking forward to seeing a few blossoms soon.

      Like

  7. Happy First Day of Spring! I love color painted homes and they remind me of spring. I look forward to all of the spring flowers and new leaves – I just feel renewed. Have a wonderful day, Janet

    Like

  9. So pretty, Jama, thank you! I’m looking forward to the tulips on the balcony blooming–they’re just starting to come up. The daffodils out front are already blossoming, as is the crepe myrtle.

    Like

    1. You are so far ahead of us, Kate. Just saw your lovely flowers on FB :). Tulips on the balcony — sounds like a poem.

      Like

  10. How wonderfully generous of Julie! I’m looking forward to raking up the blanket of leaf remnants throughout the garden exposing succulent bits of green growth and bringing air and light to their mission!

    Like

  11. Ooooh…you had me at “Paschkis”!

    I am most looking forward to washing, folding and packing away the coats, scarves, hats, mittens, gaitors, wool socks, boots, snowpants and long underwear that have been our wardrobe staples for too many months!

    Happy Spring!

    Like

    1. Wow, that’s a lot of clothes. And it takes long to put everything on and then take them off again. I hear you!

      Happy Spring, Cathy!

      Like

  14. I vote for barefoot in the grass (oh…you weren’t really asking for all your cyber friends opinions?) Thanks for the bright bouquets, and for the colorful poem. Limeglow is the perfect word to describe the color of new leaves!

    Like

  15. Oh Sheba, first your recent chocolate intoxication and now my senses are reeling from color clamor cupcake cravings. That poem was like a fairy tea party with cupcakes, flowers, jewels, sparkling wings and a rainbow of presents for all. You are a dangerous person using your power for good. I quite like you.

    Like

    1. Glad you liked the poem, Brenda — love your description of it. It was definitely fairytale-like and enchanting, no? Hope you’ve recovered from your chocolate hangover from 2 weeks ago — though there’s never really a good reason NOT to be drunk on chocolate every day. And I like YOU. 🙂

      Like

  17. Of those three, I prefer Peaceful Garden. Unless you have a lot of light and windows in the room, the others could make it feel smaller. But maybe you’re going for a cozy, intimate feel instead.

    I looked at the golden swatches. I think most of our walls are close to Garden Stone.

    Happy Spring, Ms. Sheba!

    Like

    1. Good advice — wouldn’t want to go too dark, although the room has a lot of light –probably the best light in the house. I’m wavering between actually introducing a color or sticking with a neutral (I love creams). Happy Spring!

      Like

  18. Your blog header is even a Julie P, isn’t it? It’s lovely. That picture of the colorful houses reminds me of the Isle of Mull in Scotland – all those lovely little seaside places where there’s so much fog that the houses simply glow when it clears away… a great combination with Wendy Cope poetry.

    Are you actually painting the kitchen??? Now, this I want to see…

    Like

    1. Yes, my observant friend, the blog header is Julie P. too — one of her fabric designs (did you know she also has notecards and placemats for sale)? All beautiful, of course.

      Is the Isle of Mull close to my friend Paul’s Mull of Kintyre? *sigh*

      The entire interior of our house needs repainting. I could make one decision and paint everything a neutral, or go with colors and drive myself insane. The dining room is a good place to start because there are fewer things to move.

      Like

  19. Your flamboyant post, Sheba, has captured my very soul. All my senses have been tapped (hearing included!). What I’m most looking forward to since spring is here is the smell of warm dirt as I plant and later, the smell of dill throughout my gardens. I am a peasant at heart but cherish the red and lime green of life. I love all the colors you have chosen for your dining room but cling to spring has sprung. …….waiting for the “jitterbug of leaves”

    Like

    1. So you’re a peasant gardener — I like that! (Come to our house, we have a lot of yard work to do.) Alas, no gardens for us, the deer devour everything. Mmmmm, fresh dill . . .

      Like

  20. lovely poem, and good luck with your paint choice!

    I’m most looking forward to all the birdsong from the many different birds nesting in our back yard!

    Like

    1. Yes, birdsong is good. The most mellifluous bit of birdsong I ever heard in my life was in the town of Keighley in West Yorkshire (Bronte country). Hundreds of birds woke us up at our B&B every morning.

      Like

  21. I like Barefoot in the Grass the best. I am so looking forward to the orioles returning–I love watching them squabble over the jelly in the feeders!

    Like

  22. Gorgeous pallet of color in today’s post, Jama! Oh, the photograph of the poppies! I’m most looking forward to longer days so I can take a bike ride in the evening with my sweetie (my husband, Joe). Happy Spring! =)

    Like

  23. Thank you for making me think about spring as the snow falls in New Jersey today! I met Julie in January at Vermont College of Fine Arts where she inspired us with her always-brilliant colors. This spring, I’m looking forward to visiting my mother in Atlanta for her 86th birthday and walking with her along the Chattahoochee River where she will spot the most beautiful trilliums in bloom as she does every spring.

    Like

    1. How wonderful that you’ll be visiting your mother for her birthday! And 86 years old. Wow!

      Lucky you to have met Julie in person. 🙂

      Like

  24. What beautiful words we have for colors!! I would be very happy with “Fruitful” in my kitchen. And a wisteria tunnel outside my house!

    Like

    1. Isn’t that tunnel something else? It must feel magical to walk through it.

      It’s fun to learn about different names for colors. Sounds like a nice job to make up paint names. 🙂

      Like

  25. Cerulean blue appreciations Jama, for the introduction to a poet new to me. (Seems they are all new to me, these days.) Wendy Cope’s weaving of colors into her poem story is a wheat color breeze pleasure to read. I followed the link & found that her earlier Title Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis also suggests rich color. The flowers are beautiful.
    I’m not answering the gengerous & tempting give-away as I am in a trimming, sorting, passing on cottage yellow spring clean frame of mind.
    Yours in ginger orange cat fur,
    Jan

    Like

    1. Thanks for the color-luscious comment, Jan :).

      Glad you enjoyed Wendy’s poem — this one was a bit different from the ones I’m more familiar with, which have a humorous tone to them. I’d like to read more of her work, as she usually surprises me. 🙂

      Like

  26. Love the beautiful, colorful photos! What I’m looking forward to now that spring is here is watching the world come to life again–green grass and trees, flowers in bloom, birds singing, and butterflies fluttering, AND walking my dog in warmth. But first we need to get rid of all this snow.

    Like

  27. I’m sitting here hoping for some more winter since we hardly had any! I loved the photos and the beautiful art by Julie Paschkis. Please don’t enter me in the drawing since I just won a wonderful book here. Thanks for the post.

    Like

  28. Oh Jama, that is one beautiful poem. I love “That honeysuckle year –/if he could ransom/one sunlit day! I wrote with Laura Shovan and others last year for February in all the Pantone colors, so the poem reminds me of that, too. Spring, looking forward to tree leaves and NOT wearing a coat. Thanks for the delicious colors.

    Like

    1. I thought of Laura’s Pantone Poetry Project when I first read this poem. It generated a lot of interesting responses. She always has great ideas for prompts. 🙂

      Like

  29. The colors in Wendy’s poem are what I’m most looking forward to. The sky was a brilliant shade of blue yesterday, but everything else is still white and gray. And I’m swooning over the colors in those Julie Paschkis prints! Thanks for sharing, Jama!

    Like

  30. Dearest Sheba, Oh, the delights here today on this (still) First Day of Spring!!

    I’ve already been drooling over that new blog header. Julie Paschkis is one of my most favorite favorite favorite artists in all the world. (Julie, I have long LOVED your work!!!) Can’t wait to go check out the Paprika link.

    I’ve also long used paint chip names with students in poetry workshops. Who gets paid to think up those things? Sooo delightful. By the way, those robins, in their “russet tweeds,” have come and gone here – so perhaps they’ll be “firedancing” on your lawn soon!

    I look forward to each new blossom and baby bird peep in coming days.

    Like

    1. So — you’ve been entertaining those robins a little too well – no wonder they’re late in arriving here.

      NIce to know you’re also a big Julie P. fan. Her style is very distinctive, isn’t it? I’m glad she’s selling prints online — yet another way to spread the beauty!

      Like

  31. Dear Sheba,
    I’m hoping for a “honeysuckle year,” but what I’m most looking forward to this spring is the successful emergence (I hope!) of the two black swallowtail butterflies whose cocoons we’ve been tending all winter!

    Like

  34. A feast for the senses, as usual, Jama! Your trio of Julie’s images at the top of your blog made me gasp when I got to your site! Gorgeous! I’m most looking forward to sunny days and my chicks getting to go out in their fenced yard to scratch in the grass. I think they’ll be excited too!

    Like

  35. I absolutely adore Julie Paschkis’ art – there is so much beauty in this post I am overwhelmed. Love the play with colours – ceruleans, hyacinths, evergreens – how can one not fall in love with both the colours and the words?

    Solitude, a purple
    robe, a last
    long hazy evening.

    My favourite lines. 🙂 Beautiful.

    Like

Comments are closed.