The other day I was out walking in the woods, and thinking about about the conversation in a Facebook group I belong to some time ago. In particular someone had said, “Why paint a tree when you can grow a tree?” I don’t know. Maybe ask Monet.
Monet’s poplar series of paintings was so inspiring to me in college. There was a row of tall poplars along a pathway that overlooked a lake on my campus. I could see them out the huge windows of one of the fine art classrooms.
I loved those trees.
I used to have little picnics under them with my boyfriend. I think great painters are capturing a bit of magic. A moment in time. If it wasn’t for Monet, I might never have noticed that row of tall trees that ran along the ridge overlooking the lake. I might not have spent hours walking there. Sometimes I pretended that I was walking on the moors in England and sometimes the gardens of France. (Obviously, I wasn’t a math major.) That place still feels magical to me. Because of Monet, I discovered it.
Have you ever had a dream to start a hobby or try something new? And then someone came along and said to you, “Why would you want to do this? Or, “That’s just a waste of your time!” Maybe you wanted to learn to play the guitar, but your parents thought that you should be studying. Or you wanted to write poetry instead of essays. And so the dreams got put on hold.
It’s never too late to restart your dreams. It’s never to late to try something new just because you didn’t learn it as a child. There is a dance school where I live that started an adult ballet class and it has become one of their most popular classes.
One of my dreams is not only to learn to paint in the traditional style someday, and to learn how the old masters created their pigments from what they found in nature (I know, some of this stuff is very toxic. I will be careful), but also to travel to as many museums in Europe and the East Coast to see their work while I still can.
Many of you remember the images of the looting of the museum of ancient artifacts while the Iraq war was going on, and while the troops were defending the oil fields. It was heartbreaking. We always assume that these treasures will always be there, but history tells us otherwise. So if there is an exhibit touring in your city, try not to miss it. It might be the last chance to see that work forever.
In the 70’s there was a tour of the treasures of King Tut’s tomb. My uncle had been fascinated by Egyptology his whole life, so he and my aunt went to see it. My parents decided the drive to Seattle was too far, or maybe they just weren’t that interested. A few years ago, there was another tour of some of Tut’s treasures. This was hailed as the last time any of the treasures are allowed to be exhibited outside of Egypt. It was a limited show compared to the first one. But I made sure that I didn’t miss it and took my son. If I never make it to Egypt, at least I saw a few of the items found in his tomb in person! If you were lucky enough to like in New York, Paris, or London, the treasures did make one last tour. Now, I can only hope to visit Egypt one day.
I know a lot of people don’t like to go to museums. They find them stuffy. And I don’t pretend to like modern art much. If you want to nail your painting to a wall with a big spike, go ahead. I’m talking to you, Neo-Dada.
We are all inspired by different things. But I feel like the classical artists had a connection with nature that we have lost in the last century when most people in the world have taken to urban living. Studying these artists works reconnects us again. It might inspire you to take a walk outside at lunchtime instead of sitting in a windowless lunchroom. Or taking a day trip on the weekend and going for a hike.
For me, connecting to nature went way beyond that and I now live in a forest. I often take long walks in an ancient wood or along a nearby beach. Those places inspire my own artwork. And I can trace it all back to studying so many of the classical artists in college.
What I learned from Monet is that when you paint or sculpt an object over and over, you learn things about it that you could never know otherwise. You don’t just paint the tree, you know the tree.