Artists and colors we love.......

Above, Pierre Bonnard rendered a landscape near the Mediterranean....it caught my eye because of the lime (yellow green) and wonderful blues...indigo, turquoise, aqua, cobalt...

notice too how his sky is yellow and lavender, we'll get back to that later...

Recently, my friend and fellow quilt artist, Paula gave me two photos. The first (underneath in the scan) is of an "ocean waves" quilt which she is working on. [I had given her the tote bag from old blue jeans]. It had wonderful blues, limes and a little bright yellow to "pop" and excite the eye.

Then, last month, I received the second, a post card from her trip to Colorado.

They were lying together on a table top and I realized that the colors were repeating again! She had selected a postcard true to the month of her visit to the area, and the colors were right there! I think this shows how an artist is subconsciously organizing and reacting to colors most of the time!

Now back to the yellow sky and lavender, here is a landscape art quilt which I made last spring. It is of our Ozark mountains on a misty morning.....(donated to a silent auction last week. )

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I was so happy to stumble across two recent books in the Maise Dobbs mystery series....

I just read "The Mapping of Love and Death" last week, and have the next in the series on reserve for me at our library...

I recommend this series ( which I was introduced to by my friend, Paula, LOL!) for anyone interested in an accurate portrayal of English life from the early 1900's as Maisie grows up...and especially the period between the two World Wars. The first book of the series, by Jacqueline Winspear, is simply titled "Maisie Dobbs".

Fall color??

I took up my camera hoping to capture some of it ( the colors of autumn!) but first wanted a more current seasonal photo of myself. This was as good as it got. [Just try photographing yourself in a mirror and you will see....especially if the camera (or the one taking the photo) is a little "off" !LOL!]

I really like the "JUST BREATHE" quilt in earthy colors which is behind me! It is one of my favorites! I have made it at least 2 times!

One reason for taking this photo....I have been trying to get another "tossed collage" of my digital photos to use as a header on this blog. I can make the collage on Picassa, but can find no way to save and publish it....(it was SO easy the last time it did it!...ever since we changed to this newer computer, I have struggled....BTW I read many more blog posts than I can now comment on....sometimes, the comments just don't "take"!)

I know that I need to be better with the camera and the computer!

Next, I took the camera outside to find color. We are about at "peek" for our fall color this week. I took a photo of our yellow maple beginning to turn....and then the battery was dead in the camera....!!!

So, that is enough photographic frustration for today I'll just get out my paints and apply all the colors I want!.....meanwhile and full of color.....



You can read more about this rural knitter and her designs here . The colors in yarns and fabrics are a little easier to capture today than the colors of autumn!

And thinking of color, I can't overlook my purple Mary Janes with the red straps and indigo knitted socks......yes, I did manage to get these in my size! Some of us never grow up!

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I am loving the color YELLOW today. I grabbed my yellow cotton sweater to wear to work today after seeing Diane Sawyer in her bright yellow this morning on Good Morning America.

This yellow fixation started when I saw the beautiful yellow tunics in "Slumdog Millionaire". It continues as I see daffodils coming up all over town!

Aren't these fabulous????






Here is one from Target....oh, to have arms which could be bared! Sigh! Of course, LOL! it is TOO COLD for that yet anyway. SO, I will begin watching for the perfect yellow fabric and will sew my own yellow tunic for spring...with 3/4 sleeves.


Here is my pattern, ready and waiting!

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Now, for my art exercise. This is a watercolor self-portrait. It is actually 2 halves, separated by a line of masking tape (which is removed as I paint). Realism is not the goal here, though I had to chuckle after scanning and seeing this on the screen, that I seem to have a "black eye" on the shadowy cooler side of the face!

Doing self-portraits often is recommended for artists....and especially when one is tired of painting other subjects. There are even Internet art groups which encourage painting a self portrait weekly, or perhaps doing 100 self-portraits. I'll post these as I work them out! Ha!!

Meanwhile follow this link for book on doing Self-portraits!

See what a difference a little color makes!

I wanted to see the design without the color so I took it out with Photoshop.....

I am sewing blocks for my next quilt...this one will probably be afghan or "nap" size, I have a lot of lovely large scale prints....many are from Kaffe Fassett.

So, back to the sewing machine....I usually work in silence with just the birds singing outside the open window....I hope you are all having a lovely day too!

ATC's from my Arty Collages and Dolls blog...

BLUE

You give your love and friendship unconditionally. You enjoy long, thoughtful conversations rich in philosophy and spirituality. You are very loyal and intuitive.

Find out your color at QuizMeme.com!

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I took the "test" from a post by Janet (Just beecause....and just for fun!) and I came up "BLUE" , too. (Probably not a surprise for someone who chooses indigo as a name for their blog...)





I will be "blue" if I don't stop reading blogs and start doing my watercolor...so I will post what I do later....