Monet on my mind.

A recent trip to New York always gives me pause to reflect. One of my favorite paintings on the trip was Monet's large water lily painting at the Museum of Modern Art. This is such an amazing painting because of the surface and giant brushstrokes. It is a simple idea but put together with a sense of scale that goes far beyond the easel. The fact that he was in his 80s when he did this painting is completely astounding. Imagine working away at 80 years old in your warehouse studio on such a series. It really alters the definition of the artist in old age.

Emy Frentz Gallery Poetry Collaboration

The RiverCrossings Art Fair that took place in October also had an exhibition at the Emy Frentz Gallery in Mankato. Artists were asked to submit a painting and then poets would write their reaction or interpretation next to the painting. I showed a Sibley park painting from a few years ago. The show went on into November and just recently came down.

The poetry read like this:

Second Nature

Late September. The garden

has its daggers out-

bristle-armored moon flower pods,

the yucca's razor-edged lances,

phlox heads frizzy and brown.

The blazing dahlias elbowed out their neighbors.

Now they stretch across the cobblestones.

I remember summer's perfection,

the swirls of pink and lavender,

the pale green of new leaves unfolding.

The rose hips darken. Soon, everything

will be crisp and brown, and dry stems

will chatter in an early October wind.

Jana Bouma