red lipstick

I posted the following on February 15, 2012 on G+ and Facebook:

Roses are often a photographer’s Valentine’s day hangover. I cannot see this particularly red without thinking of my mother’s lipstick. It is what she wears when going to town. She wears it with her earrings and usually no other make up. I have seen her “dress for town” as long as I can remember. She looks as beautiful today as she did when I was a small child. No one thinks to look at her hardworking farm-hands when she has her lipstick on.

Along with this photograph of a rose that was given to us after dinner at The Green House Restaurant….

(image available for purchase HERE)

And here are some of the fascinating responses I received…

Sue Wiebe (my sister): So true! And that lipstick seems to transform her whole face. A highschool friend once told me, “your mom’s lipstick is her trademark and it looks so right on her.”

Lynda Schwemmer: My mother’s color too; for many years… I think it’s partly a generational thing. There she was looking so classy in her blue-red, while I, child of the sixties, was trying out the pales and the earth tones. And they are polar opposites. Those reds have come around again though…. For what it’s worth, I think my mom’s lipstick color is Revlon “Love that Red” which has been around since the 1950s.

Oksana Suzulhan: I think red was the only lipstick colour at one point ( rouge à levres, en français and I believe that’s still what its called ). I like your comment about your Mom’s hardworking hands and lipstick; I look at people’s hands and usually see soft (yuck – no work), worn (hard work), or for most of us here somewhere MOR….This photo brought back the smell of lipstick I remember when I was much younger – it had a pungent, waxy, perfumey smell which I haven’t come across in years… I think that’s all that was available when lipstick was first introduced, or probably made available to almost anyone who could afford it. It was a status symbol, along with that smell, and was worn only as your Mom put it to ” dress for town “….To-day, all this is part of our every-day ablutions – different shade for every outfit 🙂

Now isn’t that just the most interesting bits of information to be gifted for sharing one photograph of a red rose?

SPROUT: What colour do you think will have people thinking about you and your trade mark presence?

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From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada

Terrill Welch online Gallery at http://terrillwelchartist.com