What's Cooking Inside While it Cooks Outside

Yep, it's what we call the Dog Days. While the world outside bakes to a nice golden brown, I'm in the studio gearing up for Fall 2015 ...and beyond.

Ah, the pleasure of that first underpainting. Sometimes I don't want to cover it up.

CHAOS is on display at Ro2 Art in Dallas through September 12! Don't miss it.

Black-Eye Susan and Shrinking Violet, acrylic on panel, 5x5 inches each (9x9 framed).

Save the Date!

Wyld Flowerz, an exhibition of new abstractions, will open at STASH in downtown Norman, OK on Friday 9 October 2015. More details to follow.

Here's a different view of that underpainting, a few layers later.

I'm pleased to share the news that my relationship with Cerulean Gallery in Amarillo, Texas will continue into 2016. More news as the situation develops.

I've been sewing quite a bit. I've begun volunteering with the Community First! Quilters, a connection made through the Austin chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild. These are my variation on the traditional flying geese quilt block - I call them flying bats. We see those here from time to time.

This will be Tough Cookie. Right now she's only half-baked.

I do get out sometimes, and go places like the Red Room Lounge.

I do make dinner sometimes, like this caprese salad with marinated zucchini.

Going on an Egg Hunt

Egg Hunt (working title), acrylic on canvas mounted on wood panel, 10 x 8 inches, 2015 by Sarah Atlee.

Continuing with the spring-is-springing theme, here's another new abstract piece. I'm noticing that my patchwork impulse is just plain taking over.

Bright as Bulbs

Peel. Acrylic on unstretched canvas, 24 x 24 inches by Sarah Atlee

It's citrus season, a time when I'm extra-thankful for living in central Texas. Just yesterday I was given what I think is my first orange with its leaves still attached:

Gosh, maybe I should paint a picture of these.

Holding, peeling, and eating a succulent orange is its own special set of pleasures. Following are some other artists' interpretations of orange - both the fruit and the color.

Vincent Van Gogh. Child with Orange, 1890.

Luis Feito. Untitled (Orange, red and purple).

You know that moment when you first dig your thumbnail into an orange and begin to peel back the skin? When the scent of citrus oil fills your nose and the juice starts running? I think Feito has captured that here.

Fernando Botero. Orange, 1977. Update: Check out Fernando Botero's page on Artsy to learn more.

Johannes Itten. Composition in Orange and Blue-Green, 1957.

Itten's composition above interests me both as a painter and as a quilter.

In a 2010 radio essay you can read here, Paul Marion describes the joy of seeing oranges in the winter:

"Bright as light bulbs on the kitchen table, the oranges promise sunshine as late December daylight shrinks in the shortest days of the year."

Peachy Patchwork

Peaches & Quilt. Acrylic on canvas, 12 x 12 inches by Sarah Atlee

Peaches & Quilt. Acrylic on canvas, 12 x 12 inches by Sarah Atlee

Peaches are revered in many cultures as a symbol of longevity, vitality, and wealth. Small wonder - who can resist the sweet smell and juicy flesh of a ripe peach? Each fruit is a treasure.

Peaches. Janet Fish, 1971. Click image to view source.

In this painting by Janet Fish, the tempting peaches are sealed in plastic wrap, increasing our anticipation.

Riverbank of Peach Blossoms. Shi Tao, Chinese, 17th century. Click image to view source.

Peach trees blossom before their leaves appear each spring, contributing to their association with health and vitality. Here landscape painter and poet Shi Tao treats us to a whole riverbank alive with peach blossoms.

Fanciullo con canestro di frutta. Caravaggio, Italian, 16th century. Click image to view source.

In European painting, the peach represents the heart, while a leaf attached to the fruit suggests the tongue. Put them together and you have a symbol for speaking from the heart. The young man in this work by Caravaggio looks as though he's about to do just that.

By now, I know you're thinking about it. Who can forget the immortal tribute to peaches by The Presidents of the United States of America? Here's a cover of their famous song "Peaches" played on actual peaches.

Sketchbook 2012: No Trespassing Quilt

Sketchbook 2012: No Trespassing, mixed media, 2012 by Sarah Atle

No Trespassing, mixed media collage sketch, 2012 by Sarah Atlee

Like the Millennium Quilt series, I made this drawing while my mother was recovering from surgery. I thought it would be interesting to create a geometric composition based on a (blurry) photograph. Abstraction through pixellation, although the original photograph is the digital media, whereas the drawing below is analog.

Fijian, jiving, and scheme are cool words.

Sketchbook 2012: No Trespassing quilt sketch, ink and colored pe

No Trespassing Quilt, ink and colored pencil on paper, 2012 by Sarah Atlee