Simplicity: the greatest treasure

I like work that is very economical; work where the artist, like a poet, has distilled the scene down to the very essence of his/her main idea. Difficult to do – for everything is very exposed . It’s like the lambent lucid piano solo in the middle of a crashing concerto – ah we reach the heart of the matter. Or the solo cello in Bach’s Cellos solos. Perhaps, though, this is the search for the Holy Grail!!! There aren’t very many of them, they are exceeding difficult to find and require a long and arduous journey! Even so, I’d love to make a quilt where just a few perfect lines totally conveyed the whole image.

It was a review across in this month’s Art in America of Lois Dodd’s recent shows that reminded me of my love of simplicity; I looked for more of her work and found some beautifully direct and soft snow paintings

One of the master painters of snow simplicity was Georgia O’Keefe – remember this one? (now owned by the San Diego museum of art).

And this one (sold as a poster)

And her cloud paintings?

And, Alex Katz:

There are several more examples of Katz's amazing ability to paint only the most essential elements at this gallery.

The Scottish landscape (away from man’s fiddling hand with nature!) is awesome, grand and gorgeous in its pure elegant lines.

And now …back to my quilts! Can I find this simplicity with my needle? Well, perhaps one day…on the long journey..

And, if you have been, thanks for reading!

Elizabeth