Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Today is our first full day onboard, and it is a sea day - my favorite kind of day on a cruise.
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| My breakfast |
After breakfast I went to “Knitters and Natters,” a meet-up for people who like to knit, embroider, cross-stitch, or whatever. I am working on a sashiko project. Sashiko is a form of Japanese embroidery. It was originally used to mend and strengthen clothing and other fabric items such as quilts. Cotton thread was cheap, and strong. Rows of stitches close together would make the fabric stronger. Nowadays, sashiko is used for decorative purposes as well as practical ones.
Sashiko is very portable. All you need is decent light.
Here is a close-up of the piece I am working on. The pattern is a traditional sashiko pattern called asanoha (hemp leaf). I have used a variegated sashiko thread - not traditional, but popular.
It was quite blustery today. Windy and cold. We went for a walk on the Promenade Deck. On this ship, the Promenade Deck goes all the way around. One mile = 2.8 circuits.
From time to time we like to explore the art in certain parts of the ship. This is the permanent art that belongs to the ship. It has nothing to do with the art that is marketed onboard by Park West Gallery.
Some of the ship’s pictures are beautiful and are by artists who can be found on Wikipedia.
Some of the art is schlock, IMHO. It may look like hotel room art. It may look like it was done with a stencil and a can of spray paint. I don’t like it, and I don’t subscribe to the school that says everything that anyone makes is “art.” I don’t know why they bought some of that stuff and hung it up in the ship. I hope they didn’t pay a lot for it.
Today we are going to explore the art in the forward stairwell. Please forgive the quality of the photos. Most of the time the lighting is bad and there is too much glare and reflection. You can’t stand where you need to stand to get a good shot because the stairs are almost always in the way.
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| TRIBUTE TO THE GODDESS Mixed Media on Rice Paper Chong (Japan) |
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| CLICKS Oil on paper Matt Lively (U.S.A.) |
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| EARLY PRESS Oil on paper Matt Lively (U.S.A.) |
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| SOUL OF THE SEA Giclee Don Dahlke (U.S.A.) |
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| ROSE OF THE CARIBBEAN Giclee Don Dahlke (U.S.A.) |
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| SHADED TRANQUILITY Giclee Don Dahlke (U.S.A.) |
Footnote:
Giclee (also giclée) is a technology for fine art or photograph reproduction using a high-quality inkjet printer to make individual copies.
We went to one of the main dining rooms for dinner. It was quite fun to see so many of the dining room staff whom we had gotten to know during our last cruise.
Today’s fabric is Sashiko: Dan-Tsunagi - Connected Steps, by Bonnie Phantasm for Spoonflower.
I took that embroidery class at the museum once.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the art!
Most interesting. Kay
ReplyDeleteFrom Shirley Radder….where is Knitters and Knatters meeting? On our last cruise we met on the 18th floor…it was lonely. And…what is your destination?
ReplyDeleteI too LOVE sea days.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I disagree with your statement that’s all that’s needed for shashiko Is good light. One would also need an ability to use needle and thread. I for one am totally lacking in that ability!!
Thanks for the art tour and photos. I particularly liked the Tribute to the Goddess. Kate
I love your descriptive word “schlock”! I hadn’t heard that word before but from the sound of the word spoken out load, I can easily figure out it’s meaning.. I hadn’t seen IMHO before either but again it was easy to figure out by context.
ReplyDelete