shadow and light

©2013, Paula Kovarik

The photo on the left of this image is a detail shot of a quilt I am working on. On the right I turned it 360 degrees. Isn't it interesting how the shadows on the left make the piece look concave but the same pic turned upside down looks convex? Since I was turning the image to see if the curves were balanced (an old trick for judging layout) I was confounded on how different they looked. I had to shoot the piece again by turning it upside down to be able to have a fairer comparison.

A fleeting shadow

This fleeting shadow on my studio floor reminded me of a wonderful show I recently saw of Carrol Cloar's work at the Brooks Museum in Memphis (The Crossroads of Memory: Carroll Cloar and the American South). His studied observations of life in the south, sense of design and mastery of his medium inspired me to see the world differently after I walked out. That is the power of art.

universal pattern

What is it? This is a high contrast graphic I created by scanning in a catalpa leaf and playing with the contrast and color. To my surprise as I zoomed in to the 600 DPI image I found this city scape of interconnected roads and arteries. I need to learn to stitch like this, it is a universal pattern.

lighting reveals darkness

The Carnival Fountain (Fastnachtsbrunnen) created by Blasius Spreng in Mainz, Germany rose up in the center of a placid square with great presence. It is a cacaphonous piling of partiers and objects representing Carnival. According to TripAdvisor the carnival (Fasching) season is known as the fifth season, it begins on 11/11 at 11:11 a.m. I'll mark my calendar.

I loved the crazy pile of wacky characters and the light and drizzly rain on the day I visited gave it a macabre look. The rain and fountain water obscures and adds motion to the solid bronze. The heads and figures gaze out with mysterious motives, this party may not be as fun as we had imagined it....

16 teacups

Collections reveal aesthetic. These sixteen cups have been in Mom's hutch for years. None has a history that I am aware of, they just caught her eye and demanded her purchase. Mom wasn't a tea drinker and she wasn't particularly girlie. Yet, she chose these delicate cups as something to gaze on each day. I think they are telling me a story of her aesthetic and her yearning for beautiful things.