March 10, 2018
At last! It's finished. Still haven't decided on the title.
'One Escaped'... 'Harmony in Red and Brown'.... 'Apple Basket' is not an option!
My desire to paint the basket was stirred by my delight in seeing old objects that wear a sense of their history. The basket has been in existence since circa 1850. That's a long life, with it passing through many hands and holding many items. Even during the 48 years I have owned the basket, it has held fresh eggs from the chicken coop, fresh vegetables from the garden, fresh flowers ( wrapped in wet newspaper) cut from the flower beds. The past few years it has been the keeper of some of my antique lace pieces. It also holds memories of where it has been in each of the homes I've we've lived in over the years. All of this is a part of what Wabi-Sabi, that Japanese aesthetic of what makes something beautiful.
A few days ago, a friend saw the blue color on the light side of the basket and asked if it had traces of blue paint on it. I explained that the blue she was seeing is the reflected light on a dark object. It reminded me of a time when I was traveling down a country highway with a friend and he mentioned that a house in the distance was painted blue. The house was white, but what he was seeing was the shadowed side of the house on a sunny day. The house was reflecting the color of the big blue sky overhead.
Colorfully,
Sandy