Some Artsy Things

Still down here in southwest Florida, keeping an eye on the storm named Erika to see which track it decides to take.  

I brought my watercolor palette with me and fooled around with a sunset picture recently.  If you haven't painted for awhile, it helps to do some warm ups.  I consider this a warm-up because I recently did a similar painting of a marsh sunset.

Here is a nice surprise inside a ladies' restroom at The Crab and Fin Restaurant on St. Armand's Key, Sarasota.  The stall doors are painted like dresses on hangers or manikins.

Here are two more artsy things from the Ringling mansion.  I love the compass rose made of mosaic tile.   It is outside on the walkway leading to the mansion.

And here is another window facing the marble tile patio.  It looks like patchwork to me!

Every morning we get up at about 5:00AM and leave before 6:00.  On the way to Sarasota we see a sunrise almost every day.  God's own artwork!

Finding Quilting Inspiration in the Big Apple

Since becoming a serious quilter, I think I view the world from a different perspective... We got back yesterday afternoon from an awesome trip to New York. I took hundreds of pictures, but here are a few that may be of special interest to quilt artists.

There was a "Culture Fest" in Battery Square Park on Saturday- and I spotted this beauty. Maybe I'll visit it someday...

How about a medallion quilt based on this mosaic on the floor at the Waldorf? The smaller motifs surrounding the medallion look like quilt blocks to me...

For something slightly less intricate- how about this ceiling at the Waldorf bar? Could be an art quilt... Cathedral windows are a good inspiration for medallion quilts... My favorite medallion...the Imagine Mosaic at Strawberry Fields in Central Park.
I was a senior in high school when Lennon wrote this song...still a flower child? (freezing my buns off)

Well, I was not the only one in New York not wearing the de rigueur black outfit...
More next time...must go to the grocery store and buy yogurt and carrots, my dietary punishment for all the fine wining and dining of the past few days...