Red Cottage

Red Cottage is a beautifully aged piece that's made the rounds in our apartment, from studio to kitchen to bedroom and back. Bold and simple in colour, I've found remnants of this pattern elsewhere online being described as a "Canadian Style House". From ten or twenty feet away this just sorta blurs to me as an attractively balanced home with a painted red roof but upon closer inspection, it's a pretty twisted and cartoonish needlepoint, something out of a later night Adult Swim venture, possibly. 

A wood frame that's been painted white borders the embroidery. I wish I had more information on this piece, a bit of backstory, but unfortunately, nothing. I can tell the frame has been hand-painted, as already mentioned. The needlepoint itself seems quite a bit older than the frame, most likely dating to the 1970s. The grass is unkempt and presumably flows in a breeze. If your brain is wired the right way, you can squint and picture that wavy rolling grass as water and waves crashing into shore. The sky is a blend of day-dream blue and cloud, in perfect harmony.

As I write copy for this piece, summer is dwindling down. We're on the tail end of a micro heatwave and Fall officially makes it presence come this Sunday. I am drinking tea and thinking about time. It's so easy to let it slip away during these last rushes of summer. I have been searching for appropriate Movies and Media that capture this feeling and I am at a loss. I've gone through all the lists of classic late-summer film, IMDB and lettrboxd, reddit commentary and all those good parts of the internet that are nearly dust now, and I remain at a loss. 

And while no Hollywood director has been able to capture on magnetic film (or 1's and 0's) this mood and vibe, it happens without resistance or opposition every single year. The Sun clocks out of it's shift a little earlier, day by day, until it's barely showing up at all. The Moon dresses in Orange and wears it's brightest smile, inviting you outside for a closer look, but maybe bring a sweater.

"Red Cottage" doesn't scream fall. I have pieces that definitely do, but it would be foolish for me to pretend that's the vibe this emits. It also doesn't reflect the peak of sweaty ocean breeze summer. In my mind, it speaks of that between time, in it's briefness and inability to decide what it wants to do next. Tuck in for Autumn or one last dip in the lake?