Fashioned by Sargent at the MFA Boston

John Singer Sargent is one of my favorite American painters. (In fact, he is one of what I call "The Great American Triumvirate" which consists of Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins and John Singer Sargent.) I thoroughly enjoyed the show Fashioned by Sargent, which is at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston MA.

We were there at 11 AM on a Friday, and the gallery was full.

I love painting, and I love the way Sargent handles paint.

The clothes were a big focus of the show, but Sargent was a hell of a portrait painter. This is a closeup.

My favorite painting in the show is the famous Lady Agnew.

Finally Friday

You wouldn't believe the gnarly problem I've been dealing with at work the last three days. It's been extremely stressful, but we finally figured it out, and I am very happy today is Friday.

Julie is posting about our trip to the MFA last week, so I thought I would share some of the quilts too.

These three quilts were made by the same woman. I'm not generally a fan of solids, but the combination of red, green and this eye-popping goldenrod made these quilts real show stoppers.  As you can see, "Millie" was very impressed.

 This quilt was spectacular in every possible way.

The maker of these three quilts made seven quilts with the same color combination for her children. I'm betting she knew she was "good."

 This is another stunner in red, green and dark blue. The colors in this quilt vibrated where the red and green touched each other. It was simply incredible. This phenomenon cannot be captured in a photograph.  I loved looking at these and thinking about the "quilt police." They'd pooh-pooh the mismatched HST's in the corners, missing the forest for the trees.

I tell everybody I love working with bright colors and abstract patterns,  but when I looked at these quilts I felt completely and totally inadequate.  Look what these quilters achieved with a limited palette and one or two shapes.

This is a pitiful photo of an absolutely awesome quilt. I can't do applique, but that doesn't mean I don't like it.

This is Julie in front of another stunning quilt. The quilting alone is enough to inspire awe (and lust). The quilt doesn't hang "quite" flat and look at where the green inner diamond meets the border - the triangles don't line up - and WHO CARES?

Another view of the absolutely drop-dead outstanding quilting.

All this magnificence in the first gallery!!!

Color Inspiration

You never know where or when something around you will inspire you.

Julie and I found these gorgeous reddish orange tiles on the subway in Boston.

"Oh," you say, "those are just plain ordinary subway tiles. There's nothing exceptional about them."

Oh really?

Quilts and Color in Boston

"Magnificent Freaking Quilts" is exactly correct. Those quilts in the Quilts and Color show at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston are amazing. They are SPECTACULAR.

Julie and I had a lot of fun with the sock kitty Millie, but these quilts were beyond anything we expected.

Sure, you say. I've got the catalog. I have pictures of the quilts in the show. I don't need to go to Boston. See this quilt below... an Irish Chain. No big deal, right?

You would be dead wrong. The pictures don't do these quilts justice. Forget about looking at the detailed quilting stitches. IN PERSON, these colors VIBRATE.

In person, these quilts SHIMMER. It was absolutely astonishing. And it has nothing to do with the intensity of the colors. It had to do with the way the colors affected each other. And this cannot be captured in a photograph. This effect happens in your eyes. Even Millie was agog.

Take this basket quilt, for example. Pretty standard stuff, right? When I saw this in the catalog, I just turned the page. Bo-ring, I thought. But then I saw it in person.

This quilt is made of SATIN, which means it really, literally, shimmers. It was an absolute knockout, and one of my favorites in the entire show.

All this in the first room! I have a lot to tell you, but today is a busy day so I'll show you more another day. If you want to read a review of the show, check out this rave from the Boston Globe.

And if you love quilts, you owe it to yourself to get to Boston to see this show. I am not joking. It is that good.

Julie's Here!

Julie's flight was delayed two and a half hours yesterday. While she waited in Atlanta, she got a manicure. I made a trip to the local chocolatier to buy her some of the famous Evil Little Chocolates

Julie brought me some gifts. Two small pins, the 2015 Engagement calendar featuring her quilt, See Rock City, and the most adorable Christmas ornament ever - a See Rock City mini birdhouse.

We toured the company where I work so she could see our conference room and I also brought her out to the manufacturing floor so she could get a better understanding of the items we make. Then we went to my house and I cooked dinner.

Today we are off to see those "magnificent freaking quilts."