Monet and Architecture - Inspirational exhibition at the National Gallery in London until end July

The current exhibition was a wonderful reminder  of past experiences of seeing Monet's paintings and the locations which feature in his work, as well as discovering work I had never  seen before. Most of all, I enjoyed  comparing five versions of Rouen cathedral.   From  the upstairs room in a clothes shop opposite the cathedral, Monet painted more than 30 canvases over a period of two years, 1892-3,.setting  up his easel, screened off from the daily business of the shop. Although photography was, surprisingly, permitted at the NG, I did not take any photos while there, but include some of the images taken from a catalogue of a previous exhibition.   On a family holiday in 2010 we visited the cathedral in Rouen and also an exhibition of impressionist paintings at the Musee des Beaux Art.

Stamp issued in 1957 

Other memories  re-emerged on seeing Monet's paintings of the Normandy
coast in the NG.  Shown below right,  is  a fisherman's cottage on the clifftop near Varengeville, whose church we also visited in 2006.   In the churchyard is a wonderful mosaic dove on the grave of Georges Braque, whose friend Raoul Ubac  designed some of the stained glass windows in the church,  The area has associations with many artists.

Rouen Cathedral and one of the many paintings by Monet 

Monet's atmospheric paintings of Venice and London in  the mist and fog  also feature in the exhibition., together with  exotic gardens of  Italy and the South of France, but all in relation to architectural elements.  Most enjoyable!

Send a postcard - brighten someone's day!

As a stamp collector and traveller,  I appreciate very much receiving postcards,  but it doesn't happen so much these days and when it does, it's a real treat.  Internet, social media, whatsapp,  have provided instant ways to communicate, from almost everywhere that has wi-fi.  I do this too,  but I always try to find a few interesting postcards to send, provided I can locate a post office. On a 10 day trip around the Baltic capital cities of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia I was lucky  to find cards, stamps and post offices!

In Vilnius, I purchased two rather lovely woollen jumpers at bargain prices but soon realised they would be too heavy and bulky to included in our luggage, so had to find a Post office in order to send them home. It had interesting Commemorative stamps on sale, but sadly I wasn't able to put these on my parcel, having to make do with a rather boring label and customs declaration!  The jumpers arrived  home long before we did though! The postcards were sent a few day later, from a  post box near the main bus depot, but  took much longer to arrive at their various destinations.

The historic post office in Tallinn, opposite the Cathedral, was a beautiful building, and also had a wonderful selection of postcards and a wide range of beautiful Estonian stamps, and  this proved to be a very efficient postal service!

How long does it take?

How long does it take you to make a picture? That's a question artists are often asked.  A good answer is, "A lifetime of experimenting", or in the case of this particular piece, almost a year!

Not that I've been physically working on it for all that time, but I went with a good friend to the wonderful Tall Ships festival last May, and La Malouine was moored by the Warehouses in Gloucester docks.d We climbed aboard and were given a tour by one of the crew.

We asked what the name meant and were told that the ship came from St Malo in France.  Using photos taken at the time, and having sorted out suitable stamps I got started a few months later, but have only recently completed the picture .. the brickwork of the warehouses and the windows were a challenge but very absorbing.

For the first time, I've used cotton dipped in acrylic paint to sew in the rigging and am quite pleased with the effect!   And I saw several  beautiful ships that day ... so watch this space!