Go Green

Yellow green and blue green together in nature.

Go Green

“Go Green” is a quiet cheer for my favorite color.  This piece began with a comment overheard about how yellow greens can’t coexist with blue greens.  Well, that got the attention of my questioning mind.  There are many greens that present side-by-side in nature.  I understand that statement when matching greens while dressing, but it was said in reference to a quilt.  Would it work if I put every green in a quilt?  This photograph, with blue and yellow greens clinched the idea and I started cutting up fabric.  

I’ve had a brick quilt in my brain for awhile, influenced by all the beautiful sidewalks and walls in my community, and I liked the idea of using a color other than the expected.  I did not spend a lot of time thinking it through.  Sometimes an idea bursts out and you just start.  As I pieced the bricks, I wanted to mimic the erratic spacing and warping in my photograph, so used different grays to give shadows and depth.

I knew a sidewalk with simple bricks would not hold enough interest for me, so played with the idea of quilting some kind of shadow or texture, but in the end the simple drama of leaves on a wall was my inspiration.  Then I wondered whether the piece was a sidewalk or a wall.  I decided it didn’t matter.

Our brains are wired for green.  When we spend time in the green of nature, or simply look at a green object, our heart rate lowers and we relax.  Isn’t that amazing?  So look deeply and breathe slowly.  Go amazing green.

Go Green