Champagne

CHAMPAGNE has been part of the WindHorse Arts palette for a very long time. It is one of those colors I have returned to year after year as the holidays approach. Warm gold, silver, pale amber, and the occasional unexpected flash all live together in the glass, changing as the piece moves and never looking quite the same twice. For years, bringing out Champagne has been part of the rhythm of getting ready for the holidays. There are certain colors I automatically begin reaching for as the seasons change, almost without thinking about it. Champagne has been one of them. And perhaps the “without thinking about it” part is exactly why I've decided that this will be its last year as one of my traditional holiday colors.

I've been thinking lately about the difference between continuing something because I still love it and continuing it because I have always done it that way. After more than twenty-five years of working with glass, there are plenty of things I have done simply because they became part of the way I work. Some of those traditions still fit beautifully. Others deserve to be reconsidered every once in a while. That doesn't mean I have stopped loving Champagne. I haven't. It means I want to leave room for the work to change, for new colors to find their way onto my work bench, and for me to follow whatever catches my attention next. Part of being a maker for this long, I think, is knowing when to hold onto something and when to loosen my grip a little.

So rather than waiting until the holidays to bring Champagne out again, I wanted to give it a moment of its own. And the end of September feels like just the right time.

Without really planning it, the colors I've chosen this month have created a small story of their own. September began with the deep, saturated richness of Lasting Light. Then came the brilliant blue of On the Edge of Summer, a color that seemed determined to stretch summer out just a little longer. And now there is Champagne, warm and golden, arriving right at the turn.

This is the part of the year when I am never entirely sure which season I am in. The windows can still be open in the afternoon, and the mornings have begun asking for another layer. There are still things blooming, still vegetables coming out of the garden, still days that feel remarkably like summer. And then a cool evening arrives, or I notice how early the sun is disappearing, and there is no denying where we are headed.

Champagne seems perfectly at home in that in-between place. It doesn't belong entirely to summer, and despite its long history in my holiday collection, it doesn't need December to make sense. Right now, it feels warm rather than festive, golden rather than glittery, a quiet bridge between what we have just had and what comes next.

Soon enough I'll be reaching for the deeper reds, russets, and darker colors that feel unmistakably like autumn. For now, though, I'm giving this longtime favorite a little room of its own.

And since this will be Champagne's final year as a traditional WindHorse Arts holiday color, it seems only appropriate to begin its last season by raising a glass to it.