Sunday, April 27, 2014

Primavera



September is Spring in the Southern Hemisphere where I was born and grew up. But it is Autumn (or Fall) where I live now. So I thought I may make a double piece, in two halves, one for each season, reflected in the colours used.  I started with Spring it got me thinking of flowers, butterflies, lighter clothes, brilliant blue skies, the smell of new life, wonderful colours - and got so carried away that I never got round to making the Autumn half. In fact Spring got too big - 18" by 18" - so I'm just staying with the Southern Hemisphere version of September. Fall will have to wait until another time.




When I was a child and a teenager in Argentina, we watched many Italian films - they were shown because of the large Italian population in the country - people emigrated to Latin America between the wars and after the Second World War.  One of those films was called E Primavera.  I don't remember much about it - but it somehow relates. The word for Spring - Primavera - is the same in Spanish and in Italian. I love the cinema - although these days I see movies as much on TV or on DVD as I see in them in the cinema - but I do like to see the big ones on the silver screen.

Primavera is also the name of a favourite painting by Botticelli, in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence - one of the first places I visited in my first trip to Europe in 1964 (several years before I came to live in England) - and it made a lasting impression.




Primavera my piece - is made with a strip-piecing technique, using a range of bright colours to signify flowers, and vegetation, but also lighter colours such as yellow and orange; and greens and blues. It's been quilted with variegated threads in a free motion pattern of flowers and leaves.

Alicia

4 comments:

  1. Glad you could join me in the Southern Hemisphere Alicia ! Love your bright colours and the multi hued thread.

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  2. I love the energy in this piece. It feels festive, like spring.

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  3. I love the texture and color of your piece! I visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in February, 2012 and I loved it. Maybe I will visit the gallery again this year.

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  4. I'm embarrassed to say I was well into adulthood before I really thought about the seasons being reversed in the southern hemisphere. I think it's a much more global world now with internet and probably everyone realizes this…. Looking forward to my first trip there next year.
    Lovely, lively piece, Alicia. The piecing is wonderful!

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