11/22/11

Day Twenty-two

Giverny, France, 1993
Yesterday I started a new sketchbook.  Starting a new book makes me think fondly of the ones that have gone before it, and this is the one that started it all.

It was a fabulous trip.  We painted in Monet's garden in the evenings after it closed.  We stayed in a rented house and did our own cooking and had to get groceries in the next town  -  we didn't have a car.  Once we hitched a ride on a vegetable truck.  A little old grandma lived downstairs, and sometimes she would come up to see us.  She always had a dog and two geese following along.  She didn't speak any English but somehow we managed to communicate.  One of her geese would make a bee-line to our pantry and pull out the bread.  I went with two artist friends and the house was full of artists coming and going.  We stayed about two and a half weeks  -  it was beginning to feel like home. Every spring I get a little homesick for the place.  I've never gone back.  It was one of those experiences that couldn't be duplicated.  Maybe because they wouldn't want those crazy Americans back in the neighborhood.

Okay  -  back to reality.  Back to cooking.  Back to digging out the table linens.

4 comments:

annie said...

What fun, Catherine, to see your early sketchbook. I enlarged it so that I could read it and enjoy the full flavor. while it is true that we can't step in the same river twice, we CAN relive moments in a sketchbook.
Thanks for taking us along.

annie

Margarita said...

¡Oh, Giverny! Recuerdo emocionada mi vistita a la casa y jardines de Monet. Tomé fotografías con la esperana de que un día me sentiré capaz de hacer un cuadro que refleje lo que sentí. Catherine, te doy las gracias por enseñarnos tus viivencias a través de tu cuaderno.
Besos desde España.

Marj said...

I remember your trip to Monet's Garden and your starting a sketchbook (rem. the sketches too). Mostly because we were going the next Fall. That was when I started my first sketchbook/travel/WC diary. Now, thanks to you, I have so many travel memories recorded! Fun to go thru those old scenes :-)

Catherine said...

Annie - glad you enjoyed the little sketchbook "journey".

Margarita - I'm glad it brought back some nice memories for you. Don't wait for the perfect time to paint from your photographs - just do it!

Marj - look how far we have come with this whole sketchbook/journal thing!