Coverlet (Applique) Quilt c. 1936

This "Coverlet (Applique) Quilt" by Barnes is like a recipe for a dream, cooked up with watercolor, graphite, and paper. It’s all about the process, seeing how colors and shapes play together, like notes in a song. The texture is amazing! You can almost feel the soft fuzziness of the flower heads, especially that blue one with the white polka dots. And the way Barnes uses color – those reds and greens against the quilted brown background – gives the whole thing a cozy yet playful vibe. The quilting marks add a lovely depth, don't they? Look at how each mark and gesture feels deliberate, yet free. I think of Gee's Bend quilters, they share this intuitive sense of composition. This piece isn't just a picture; it's an invitation to feel something, to remember a feeling.