02/21/2023
After a hiatus during which Christmas, New Year, Valentines Day, and two weeks of house-building all passed by, I'm back at work. Here are some photographs of a commission that I just finished: two pillows for the most exquisite lady in Massachusetts. The first features the extensive ribbing technique imposed on a striped silk that wavers between pink, green and cream. Although this is extremely time-consuming to do, I love the effect. The ribbed silk is paired with a cotton textile that is printed with lovely antique illustrations of tropical plants. The reverse side of this first pillow is mainly constructed from a blend of strawberry silk, ornamented with a gold filigree design. An inset of the same antique botanical print, featuring a gorgeous butterfly, is bordered on two sides by a gold Moroccan arabesque textile that brings to mind the Arabian Nights and suggests the imminent arrival of a prince for any lady or gentleman in need. The piping is made from a striped silk in complementary colours, interrupted by a dash of brilliant fuschia pink.
I have, perhaps, mentioned before the significance of flashes of bright fuschia pink: I often remember scenes in India, where a relatively monotone landscape is interrupted by the presence in the distance of a woman wearing a brilliantly coloured sari. There are many musical equivalents to this vision: the woodwind chords in the last scene of Richard Strauss's Capriccio, for example, that invoke spinal shivers. Yikes, am I sounding pretentious or what???
The second pillow features more of the strawberry silk with gold filigree (the commission was for two pillows that "speak to each other"). An inset of orange, olive green and yellow is enhanced by gold embroidered arabesques. Its reverse features a middle-eastern geometric design, inset with a gold silk embroidered with green shoots that are about to open.
