COLOUR OF THE YEAR AT THE OSCARS

Here at the Red Cardinal Blog we like to discuss the annual Colour of the Year.

The Pantone Colour for 2019 is:

Living Coral

This pretty shade sits somewhere between orange and pink, and in the past I think was simply called 'coral'..

I remember when I was in high school having and loving a cardigan in just this shade.

Dame Helen Mirren at the Oscars. 

 If this is not living coral, it is certainly rather close, and one of my top picks.

But then, I always did love pink....

This is pretty, with a sweet silver bow.

In fact, there were lots of bows to be spotted on the red carpet if you looked closely.. 

Julia Roberts always looks gorgeous and happy..

This black Chanel appealed too...

There is always one charming canary yellow dress at the Oscars -

I love yellow too, but one dress per Awards night is probably enough!

Disappointed that Willem Dafoe missed out on an award for his portrayal of Vincent Van Gogh in 'At Eternity's Gate'.

We loved the film, and thought he was wonderful in the role - sympathetic and eerily like Van Gogh himself in all those self-portraits.

Mr Cardinal and I were doing research for our next big adventure:

We have made our airline reservations for a trip to the South of France to explore the haunts of not only Van Gogh, but Cezanne, Matisse, Chagall, Picasso...

I can't wait to see the settings of many of the famous paintings I have studied over the years.

We then will fly to London and on to Ottawa for a fortnight with our dear daughter and grandsons.  The boys appear to be growing taller every time we see them on Facetime!  We hope to see lots of Autumn leaves...

(And hopefully not the sort of heavy snow they had last week, biggest dump since 1998:

They woke one day to find the snow piled against the glass back door - there are four steps down to the ground here...

No playing outside this week..)

Then we will complete our round-the-world fare by flying home via Vancouver.

We have also been to Sydney lately, to visit our son and his Irish wife, in their picturesque cottage.

Their garden has some resemblance to ours:

Hedges, roses, picket fence...

We proud parents were terribly impressed that our son made this lovely bench for their hallway.  Such a talent!

While in Sydney we saw an exhibition of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings from The Hermitage, St. Petersburg...

In the interests of research, we immersed ourselves in some stunning Cezanne, Matisse and Kandinsky, Gauguin and Monet, and on it went:

Cezanne

Kandinsky

Matisse

And just before I go, one royal fashion sighting:

I was smitten with the fabric in Meghan's Oscar de la Renta dress -

just look at those cute woodland birds and animals.

Don't think I wouldn't kill to get my hands on a piece of that fabric....

It has been raining a little bit here, and the temperatures have dropped, to 29c maximums.  Blissful.  Can Autumn be that far away??

Hope you are all well.

XXXXX

Oh look, they got out there anyway!

SET THE SCENE FOR CHRISTMAS COOKERY

My Christmas decorative pot-holders are up in the kitchen ..

The inspirational Santa Rolling Pin hangs above the scene:

Yes, it is time to think about the Annual General Christmas Cooking Marathon.

Well, actually it is long past the thinking time, but I don't like to rush.

I have made that unique Australian favourite, White Christmas .. er ..

Black and White Christmas, with chocolate on top. 

My daughter has tried in vain in England, the US and Canada,

to find Copha or an exact substitute, basis of this delicacy.

I think she has given up and moved on to Mars Bar slice. 

I donned the old traditional Red Cardial Christmas apron for the purpose.

It can expect quite a workout in the next week or so.

 I'll make gingerbread cookies in Christmas shapes soon ...

I love a letterbox full of Christmas cards, don't you?

They say email greetings are the way of the future,

but to me, nothing is quite as festive as a hand-written card,

chosen just for you. 

Another bunch arrived today - goody!

Don't miss Matisse: Drawing Life -

an amazing exhibition on now at GoMA.

It's huge, over 300 works, and when you have your fill of that,

it ends with a wonderful Drawing Room, set with statues, vases, flowers,

bric a brac, interesting furniture, and sometimes live models,

reminiscent of the subjects in Matisse's art,

where the public can sit and sketch.

Brilliant idea, GoMA!

I bought this book and cards.  The one lower right shows Matisse's

sketches for the ceiling he painted in the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia,

which are included in the exhibition.

The Barnes ceiling is one of the most amazing and beautiful works of art

I have seen in the US.  I think it is the only one Matisse ever painted. 

Happy Christmas prep ..