Birds on Black

Blank….. do not have a memory of this material… even though it feels familiar. It’s the “don’t I know you from somewhere “ feeling that I sometimes get with a familiarish face.  Polished cotton, happy birds on a shiny black background. It has a similarity to those Liberty prints I loved when I lived in England… but seemed ghastly expensive for my student budget.  I liked the look of this scrap enough to save it in the (now very reduced) box of fabric bits… too good to throw away. I imagined that Stella made something out of it.  Then I unfurled the piece and it was an unfinished blouse top… way to big for either of us. Puzzling. Familiar… but mysterious.

LA 3.30.20

Birds on black...
Wow, I’m finding some of my memories must be shoved waayyyy back in that closet, underneath heaps and piles of stuff.  As with the black blowsy roses fabric, no distinct memory came up immediately.

A day went by, then an image came into focus. A top, or maybe a dress. Mostly black and containing a center panel of black polished cotton printed with orange and yellow birds. The fabric evokes a certain exotic quality, like maybe it’s something LA brought back from England. I wore that top, and maybe she did too. And when I wore it I felt transformed into someone, not San Bernardino but farther afield, more mysterious, more sophisticated.
SA3.29.2020