Moonlight on the Atlantic Ocean.

It all started long ago, in 1981, when I stood mesmerized in front of the Arkhip Kuindhzi’s painting Moonlit Night on the Dnieper, 1880, in the Museum of Russian art in then Leningrad (St. Petersburg, Russia now).

Many years later I had a de javu moment standing on the Atlantic Ocean shore on Florida Keys. I stood mesmerized again by the moonlight over ocean. Then I ran inside our hotel to get my camera but when I returned to the shore, there was a cloud over the moon. So I took a mental picture, and will keep it my heart forever. It was Valentine’s Day, my late husband’s birthday.

When choosing the artist, my first thought was about Ciurlionis, that I already made Scherzo quilt in his style. Then I jumped to Kandinsky but it didn’t stick with me. Finally I decided to work in Arkhip Kuindzhi style. Arkhip Kuindhzi was a Russian painter, and his style was realism. No matter what he painted, every painting had the mesmerizing glow. I know it won’t be easy for me to achieve that, but I am determined to try. I am not going to copy his paintings, just to try achieving the play of light and shadows, and the glow.

For the background of my quilt I used two different commercial fabrics in black scale. For the clouds and moonlight reflection on the water I used my own hand dyed fabrics, specially dyed for this purpose. I kept in mind that the clouds and water reflect the light differently.

The fused applique is done using Wonder Under. Machine quilted using metallic thread from Superior Threads for the glow.

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