Thursday, February 21, 2008

Yellow!! and quotes

Remember the yellow strips I showed awhile back? I took all of the ones that were not a full length (44") strip and made them into regular log cabin blocks. I'm saving the full length strips for a courthouse steps version. I decided to made a tablerunner with these. It is a little brighter in real life. Here is the backing fabric, same as the border. It is one of those fabrics that I wouldn't have bought at regular price, but at 40% off it looked pretty good. I felt like wavy line quilting, not anything fussy.
I was looking at quotes yesterday and I came upon some by Monet, whose birthday is November 14, 1840. I was born exactly 100 years later to the day. One of his quotes is:
"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment". I can relate to that.
Another quote is:
"People discuss my art and pretend to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it's simply necessary to love". I can also relate to that. Sometimes the artist's statement that accompanies a quilt is trying to make you understand where they were going, when really isn't just loving the way the piece looks enough?

10 comments:

Quiltdivajulie said...

Fabulous! Like a blast of warm sunshine... ohhhh, that feels good.

I'm a BIG fan of wavy line quilting... I like the "not parallel" style of yours!

Great quotes... I know I have been guilty of spending too much time and energy (or maybe not?) on the written journal entries that go with each of my quilts... but that's just how I am. I'm slowly learning to let them stand alone when it comes to how others view them but I'll continue to write for myself.

Anonymous said...

Your presentation this morning is a true joy to look at. The brillance of your glowing yellow~ competes with our total eclipse last night.

I have often felt your quilts had a 'Monet' like look to them~ Now I know why.

J~MT

imquilternity said...

So cheerful and bright, especially with all the snow you've got outside your window!

Elsie Montgomery said...

This one is as bright as sunshine... which we have today, btw! Still snow on the ground but our Alberta blue skies are back.

As for the artists' statements, I think it is good for an artist to have a concept or a purpose for what he or she is doing, but it should be best expressed in the art. If it is necessary to add words, perhaps the piece didn't quite do as intended? That might be what Monet was trying to say? If he had to explain his passion, then his passion would not come out the end of his brush!

Elizabeth Barton says that the difference between having a concept or purpose for what you are doing, or not, shows up in how long a viewer stands in front of your work. That is thought-provoking in itself!

Your quilts say a great deal about you --- without words!!

Have a great day.

jovaliquilts said...

What a cheery tablerunner. Once on Simply Quilts Alex Anderson and her guest (sorry, I forget who it was) discussed how hard a color yellow is for most quilters to work with. I love it and think it sparkles, but I guess it can draw the eye to it.

Love the quotes. One of the hardest things for me coming to quilting (or any art) so late in life is not overthinking. I'm trying to learn strategies and techniques, but the big thing to learn is how to respond to the aesthetics without verbal intermediaries. I think I do respond, but feel uncomfortable letting it stop there.

meggie said...

Yellow is my favourite colour! I love this!

TB said...

Yes!

Melody Johnson said...

If only the viewer knew how seldom an artist actually knows what she is making until it is done. And even then it may be that the artist was just fooling around and something good happened. If we attach a 'meaning' to that, we are fibbing.

As for yellow, 'A quilt without yellow is like popcorn without butter'.

Lynda said...

I agree with all the comments about yellow. It's such a difficult colour to work with, but so rewarding! It's especially difficult to get dark and light shades of it, and you have succeeded beautifully in that! Gorgeous!

Rebel said...

That little yellow quilt is the perfect antidote to winter weather! So bright & cheerful - I love it. I bought some of that same yellow (the version with smaller 'sunbursts' actually) when it was on sale 50% off. I used it in a baby quilt and think it really brightened up the whole quilt.

Love the Monet quotes