The Moonlight

Kuindhzi

Actually it is the Moonlight on the Atlantic Ocean.

It all started long ago, in 1981, when I stood mesmerized in front of the Arkhip Kuindzi’s painting Moonlight Over the River Dnepr 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 the Atlantic 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 birthday.

For this year’s quilt challenge my Fifteen by Fifteen group chose the theme of the Artist. We have to choose an artist and will be making quilts in his/her style.

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 (1842-1910) 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.

So, here is his Moonlit Night on the Dnieper, 1880:

Making the quilt

I wasn’t going to make a copy, I was going to make my own quilt from my mental picture of the moon over the Atlantic Ocean.

First of all I needed fabrics. The only one I found in my stash was a black fabric with gray spots for the ocean. I knew what I needed for the clouds. I kept in mind that the clouds and the water reflects the same light differently. These are my freshly dyed fabrics:

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I chose pieces of clouds and cut out my own paper moon (with the thought of one of my favorite movies “Paper Moon” with Tatum O’Neal, 1973).

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Making the water reflection was more complicated and I kept adding and adding little pieces until finally I was happy. I cut the moon out of paper to the size that I wanted. The paper moon made me smile thinking of one of my favorite movies Paper Moon with Tatum O’Neal, 1973.

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All these details are fused to the background using Steam a Seam Light.

I wanted to get the glow of moonlight on the ocean and around the moon. The moon now is made from white cotton fabric. For the first time I used metallic thread from Superior Threads. Of course, it is not visible in photos but they shine in real.

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And here is the finished quilt: