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My Dear Art Friends,

 

When I saw a photo one of my artist friends posted on Instagram a week or so ago, I kicked myself. She was in the Baltimore Museum, posed in front of a large diptych by Joan Mitchell that was part of the comprehensive retrospective touring the U.S. this year. I'd hoped to see it but simply hadn't made the effort. As the show was closing in just a few days, I was feeling the pain of my inaction and talking myself out of disappointment—I would just make my own paintings!—when I learned the entire exhibit plus more would be soon be on display in Paris.

 

I'm really not a big fan of international travel. The long travel days, cramped accommodations, aimless wandering, and food that doesn't always agree with me, often puts me off.  Give me a good enough reason, however, and I'll go. My last transatlantic flight was 5 years ago. I met up with Roo in London to see the David Hockney retrospective at the Tate Britain. Upon arrival, however, I caught a case of the flu and stumbled through the Hockney exhibit looking for the nearest restroom. The best thing that happened on that trip was, a few days later, discovering at the other Tate (Modern) a room full of Gerhard Richters and, another, of Mark Rothko's radiant paintings hung in semi-darkness. Inspiration for BIRDS FLY IN: A Human Refuge ultimately redeemed the ensuing fever, sore throat, and stuffed sinuses.

 

Keeping this in mind, I'm still making plans for Paris! Color me fortunate: the "more" is a pairing of Mitchell's work with that of one of her primary influences, Claude Monet. I love Monet. The trip I'm envisioning will be, like the exhibit, an homage to both. We'll start out in Paris with a first viewing of the Mitchell & Monet Exhibit at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. (The large Frank Gehry building itself was a destination we'd sought out the last time we were in Paris 7 years ago.) Then, the plan is to rent a car to follow the Seine to the coast, visiting places Monet (and Mitchell) lived and painted:  Giverny, Vetheuil, Vernon, Rouen, Le Havre, and Eretrat, or wherever we happen to end up. After that, the idea is to come back to Paris and revisit the Mitchell & Monet exhibit. 

 

If I maintain my good health, or even if I don't, I'll try to take notes to share. Irregardless, I'll bring whatever the experience has to offer to my own painting. Because that's what I do.

 

Warmly,

 

Ellie

 

P.S. Do you know someone who has a cozy nook in Paris or one of those others spots I mentioned that they'd like to let out for a few days? Please let me know!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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