Painting the Town Red


Sunday my inner muse came out to play in my art journal.......I sometimes think she a bit childish, and this page proves it....LOL!  Little die cut and stamped houses all in red for the Art Journal Journey challenge this month of 50 shades of red.  The paint can and paint brush were cut with my Cricut and little flower stickers just to make me happy!

I was curious to find out just what "Painting the Town Red" meant.  I found a lot of discussion about it on the internet, but this one kept popping up over and over........and I think it might be closer to the truth.

The expression is American slang meaning to go on a reckless debauch, to be wildly extravagant. Originally, the metaphor applied to bonfires painting the sky or scenery red. An old Irish ballad contains the lines: The beacon hills were painted red/ With many a fire that night. The immediate source of the phrase may be traced to the times when a Mississippi steamboat captain would want to defeat his rival. `Paint her, boys!' he would command his men as they heaped fuel upon the fires at night, casting a red glare upon the surrounding scenery. The phrase was helped into popularity by the fact that `to paint' (ie to paint the nose red) was an old slang term for drinking. [Source: Handybook of Literary Curiosities, by William S Walsh (Lippincott 1892).]
Peter Whitehead, Shaw Heath



So, what do you think?

Comments

Valerie-Jael said…
Fantastic page, love it especially as it's different. I wish I had the energy and strength to paint the town red again, that would be fun! Can you please mail me your snail-mail addy?
Barb said…
A fabulous page and inspired. You certainly did paint the town red and it looks great! Barbxx
What a fun page Krisha. The explanation of the phrase was really interesting.Loving the blue sky header. We're in for so much nasty weather this week I think I will forget what a blue sky is. Hugs-Erika
I think this is fabulous. Your inner child is wild and creative. I like the explanation your shared, as well as the art.
I think the explanation of the phrase is pretty spot-on! And I absolutely LOVE what you created for the AJJ challenge this month! It is spectacular!!!
trisha too said…
How much fun did you have with this page???? And I'm love it you included the origins of the saying, we ask each other that kind of stuff all the time around here. (We're still just a bunch of homeschool nerds, and my kids assume I know everything that has anything to do with vocabulary.)
That's just fab Krisha!I love the page and explanation you shared to it!
Thank you for joining Linda's RED collection another time!
Much appreciated!
oxo Susi
Monica said…
Interesting explanation of the term. it is fun looking up phrases we take for granted. That is a terrific journal page. I thought it might be inspired by the trip to Paseo.
Little Artbee said…
Crazy idea but it looks so good. Some houses really need some paint. I would like to color them in different blue colors. 😀
Greetings
Sabine
Indira said…
Delightful! The colorful houses brought a huge smile on my face.
I love your take on painitng the town red! You have created such a fun page, it made me smile with happiness :-). The information you found on the internet sounds plausable to me too, I think I like yours better though :-). Happy Friday and have a great weekend! J :-)
Linda Kunsman said…
such a charming page Krisha!! Interesting about the saying. I always took it to mean getting out and just having a good time:) Thanks for another fab entry for AJJ!
Unknown said…
How absolutely delightful! I love idea and the page. Glad you had fun creating it! Visiting from Art Journal Journey.
Darnell said…
Well, you know I love this kind of thing and putting origins on my blog, Krisha, so I loved your post and your bright and festive page! The flower stickers made me happy, too! Hugs, Darnell