photo by Michael House
In January 2013, I answered a question: what stands between you and success? My response: exposure. So we rented the gallery at rue Servandoni,
in earnest. At the end of July our term
is finished, but now I see 100 other ways to keep up that exposure.
Leaving Servandoni is a bittersweet event. Our studio/gallery is really the first one
we’ve had in Paris. In the overall, it
was a success: it increased our
exposure, we could always pay the rent and we made a little money. On the down side, going in every day at 2:30
kept us from some painting opportunities we’ll never have again. I can’t say I enjoyed time spent there.
In the park, I notice gestures of people seated all
around. A man, of a certain age, dressed in white, dusts off his chair
seat with his handkerchief before sitting down. An Indian man
extends his arm in that way which Indians do, shaking off a scarf, a loose
fitting sleeve. A Chinese man sits, legs crossed, smoking a cigarette
between his thumb and index finger
I see all these delightful gestures I could commit to painting,
but there is no time – we must go to the gallery
The dilemma is to find the right mix of gallery and painting
time. It must be realized without
spending too much money or becoming too serious. It might finally be time to implement the
Sunday salon: “Only on Sundays” . It would be like a living “artnotes” – with
the paintings of the week displayed, among others. I could even possibly enjoy it, one day a
week.
I had delightful workshops this week, with two women from
Hawaii, so positive about painting together at Giverny.
It poured as we left Paris, but it was clear at Monet’s gardens. We visited the Giverny Museum of Impressionism, and were
influenced by the show of Hiramitsu. One
painter was dark and moody, I was flat and simple. The two painterswere educators
dedicated to teaching via the path of
observation and art.
“What will you DO?” People ask as we are starting to
dismantle our studio/gallery on rue Servandoni. “The same thing we always
do,” I reassure them, “paint pictures, give lessons, sell paintings”. Only better.
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