A Little Bit Of Red

The Chateau de Chillon sits on the edge of Lac Leman, which is what Americans call Lake Geneva. To take this photo, I had to climb up a short ladder and hang partly out a window. The overlapping sections of roof with their terra cotta tiles won out over my fear of heights.. Discovering the red geraniums in a far-off window was a nice surprise. Several years ago, the Smithsonian mounted an exhibit about the history of the paint-by-number set. They became a huge fad. Although we now think of them as kitsch, the prototypes were created by well-trained artists using the fundamentals of good design. The owner of the company encouraged the artists to add a little bit of red somewhere in each canvas. He believed it added excitement and drew the viewer into the painting. So here I have it----beautifully textured roofs and a little bit of red.

Metro Escalator

Halfway up the escalator at the Pentagon City metro stop, it occurred to me that this is a sight that deserves more attention than it usually gets. Like so many others, I often race up the moving stairs, hoping to catch the bus. What a striking view it is, a collection of gentle arcs and converging lines. On this particular day, with the leaves barely starting to emerge, the tracery of the tree branches formed a delicate, organic counterpoint to the orderly structures of the escalator and its glass cover. I rode back down to the bottom, got on the "Up" escalator again and took this photo to preserve the moment.

Caution----Dyed Fabric

This is the time of year when I am immersed in finishing the big album that documents the previous year's Quilt/Surface Design Symposium. Checking names of students or recording details of class curriculum is not as much fun as choosing and laying out the photos. Certain things happen almost every year so the challenge becomes finding a new way to show it. If I had to choose one image that represents QSDS, it would be dyed fabric hanging on a line. This is my favorite shot. I took it looking through the road sign that blocks off the section of the parking lot where the Surface Design tent resides. Aside from the contrast between the rigid stripes and the curving lines of fabric, the implication that dyed fabric might need some kind of warning makes me chuckle. When I go to QSDS this month, there will surely be freshly-dyed fabrics hanging on the lines. My challenge will be to really look at this and find a new viewpoint