I am at the point in preparations for my solo show next Friday, June 6, at the Principle Gallery where everything comes better into focus, each piece now appearing as it will in the gallery, fully framed and finished. This final step gives some pieces additional life as the frame or mat, in the case of a painting on paper, seems to center and focus its energy. Even though I can usually envision them in their final, fully presented stage I am sometimes surprised by some of these pieces. This painting, In a Rich Tapestry, was not one of those.
This was one of those paintings that had a glow and depth from the first few brushstrokes, one that I am not sure is fully captured in the photograph above. It’s a difficult quality to capture accurately, given my limited skills as a photographer. So please trust me when I say that this painting shows even more vibrantly in person. It was painted in two stages, about half of it completed before I set it aside for about four months. I just didn’t feel that it was ready to finish and needed to be put off until just the right moment. Last week turned out to be that right moment.
The result was a scene of deeply saturated fields of color that immediately bring to my mind the colors of a rich medieval tapestry. It also linked in concept to the idea from the last post where we are all part of everything and everything is part of us. We are all threads in a rich tapestry. It is the binding together that gives us our brilliance and our strength.
This painting is 20″ by 24″ on canvas and will be part of the exhibit, Traveler, opening next Friday, June 6 at the Principle Gallery.
Redtree Times 
This weekend, I spent some time in a museum that had a display of pioneer quilts. The patterns were delightful, and most were made just as my old quilts were made: with scraps from dresses and shirts, the fabric at hand.
But one quilt was made of pieces of velvet. Where it came from, how the woman or women who made it found such a stash of glorious material in the 1800s, I don’t know. But in the midst of the other quilts, it fairly glowed.
Your painting reminds me of that quilt – the play of light, the saturated color. It’s beautiful!
You know, a rich velvet quilt is even more on the point than a tapestry. I can see it clearly in my head right now!
On Tue, May 27, 2014 at 8:30 AM, Redtree Times wrote:
>