Colors, questions
How many colors can the letter A have?

Are all beginnings green?
The night sky is ultramarine.
Cypresses, umber green – the shade makes the color dim.
Bound in oil, dark umber flowers grow

Does the grey frame calm the picture?
How many colors will fit in a square ?

The Canary sings naples yellow songs
Italian red. Tasting it.

Can you buy flesh color?

The crocus flower’s stamens, brilliant yellow.
Which shade of yellow is female?
Cadmium yellow: strongly opaque, strongly luminous,
doubly saturated pigment .

Do colors have a gender?

Umber yellow: to pronounce the word autumn.
Zinc grey has no tone .

Where does violet begin?

Olive green: iron-cyanide complex, diaryl.
How are colors mixed ?

Is there such a thing as a luminous grey?
Is brown related to yellow ?

Who is afraid of red, yellow, and blue?

Caput mortuum: dead man on canvas.
The perfect background: natural umber.
Cadmium green is toxic.
Titanium white dries slowly.

Is white a simple color?
Is white a silent color?
Is silence white?

Clouds. Flat buns and clumps. Cloud reefs.
Clouds. Cloud cover, cobalt violet cloud cover.
Pencil lines. The cloud stands still.

Olive, a lemon. Oranges, chrome yellow orange.
Ochre and red on red. The color not yet dry.
September 13 1999: a big dream in cadmium red.

Margret Kreidl
Inspired by Grazyna Gotz’s palette

Translated by Charlotte Smit