Lovely Things

This is a postcard I received this week from SAQA, the Society of American Quilt Artists. From the title I take it to be the third of a series. I am fascinated by it. After a brief moment one realizes it is a box with drawers, three on each side and each holds a small square quilt. I think the quilts are 12x12 inches although I am not totally certain of that. They are by twelve different quilt artists. Wouldn't that be a wonderful treasure to have on a wonderful big coffee table!!!? This will be auctioned at a spring event that occurs at approximately the time of the opening of this year's Quilt National in Athens, Ohio . I hope I'll be able to go see Quilt National. In the past I've combined visits to Quilt National with visits to my family in Indiana and will do the same again if possible.

I have been reading the two most recent Art in American magazines and, as usual, I look at the great variety of things artists around the world are doing. The creativity of the human being is utterly boundless whatever art medium is chosen Today I went briefly to the Empire Quilters Guild March meeting. It was charity quilt day, Many women had brought their sewing machines and were sewing away, others were layering quilts -- the room is a hall with many big round tables - and others were finishing the quitls with tied yarn. The colors and patterns, most simple traditional patterns of squares, was equally varied. We are told many organizations have asked for the donated qujilts, many for children, but also for wheelchair bound or bedridden adults. All that I saw should cheer the recipients wih their mixtures of wonderful colors in strong patterns.



When I was young I read about the Impressionists painters and their fascination with light. I could see it in their paintings but I was uncertain if light has really was different in different places. Then I went to Greece and suddenly I knew what they were talking about. Greek light, reflecting off the surrounding seas, has very little in common with American Midwstern light.

I had been in New York a few years before I worked in high story of a building and could look out at the sky. Then I realized that at about 4;00 on sunny winter afternoons a light I called "lambent" covered the city and turned the bricks of buildings pink or salmon while the light itself had an apricot glow. This is only a mediocre picture of the sky at that hour and from street level, which isn't quite as good. It is nearing my building [canopy at lower right] looking north up West End Ave. Even when it's very cold, and even though blue is technically a cool color, this afternoon light has a soft warmth, I think.