Our third essay from Giverny, France comes from Kristina Reddy MFA 2017.
Every morning I would wake up with the sun – happy, and
excited to start the day. And who wouldn’t be, if they awoke in a beautiful
home, situated amidst gardens and chirping birds! It is impossible not to see
the French countryside as somehow “romantic.”
I think the most wonderful quality that is present here, in
Giverny, is tranquility. Away from all the noise and business that we are so
used to in New York City, Giverny welcomes us with peace. There is space to
think, to wonder, and to just simply BE. It is precisely this nurturing
environment that energizes me and gets me excited about going to the studio in
the mornings.
I arrived to the residency with the intention to push
through all my comfort zones, and to allow myself to make mistakes. Experimenting
with acrylics and acrylic mediums, often left me feeling out of control, but
also helped me to discover interesting things along the way. I became more
confident with my tools, and the way I applied paint. I tried various surfaces—rice
paper, duralar, and fabric board—adjusting the how and what kind of material
combination worked best for what purpose. Of course, I also painted in oils,
working fast so as to leave enough time for the paintings to dry. This process
gave me freedom and allowed me to learn about my temperament, resulting in active
brushwork and paintings that looked more alive.
Some of the work
produced at the residency.
In regards to subject matter, my goal was to paint a series
of snapshots of nature, both the terrain and the aquatic environments, and to
capture something of life that did not need literal description. I focused
on segments of flowers, streams, etc., and tried to embody the essence of the
whole in the snapshot of its part. Everything in nature - every flower, every
person – exists only as a part of a whole. There is an entire universe living
inside each organism. My work was fed by the desire to understand and reconcile
the natural and the artificial components of our existence, through the
practice of abstracting the organic forms.
Inspired by the
Patterns in the Stream
Inspiration in Giverny was inexhaustible—it was everywhere!
One day, on a walk up the hill, behind the village, we discovered a group of
cows. The animals were so beautiful and impressive that I just had to paint
them! We were also lucky to have found some ostriches, kangaroos, and
llamas…all, of course, were “natives” to the region!! Once, Matt even found a petite
relative of a tarantula, visiting our home…but that is another story.
Cows, Ostriches, and
Llamas
With permission from the Claude Monet Foundation, we were
able to access the Monet’s gardens and paint directly from the vibrant and
beautiful flowers growing there. I took many photographs of the creek and the
water lilies—the running water and the plants that were swaying underneath. These
became my primary inspiration.
The Lily Pond
Three weeks does not seem like a long time, but it has
brought my classmates and I closer together. We worked hard, inspired and
encouraged each other, cooked and ate together, and shared many beautiful
moments along the way. And while our time in France, is almost over, I look
forward to continuing our journey back in New York.
To everyone we have met during our stay at Giverny: Thank
you! You have truly enriched our experience, and we will cherish it forever. Special
thanks to Céliane Ainaron, Jan Huntley, Miranda Fontaine, and Véronique Bossard,
for taking such a good care of us!
Merci & À bientôt!!
Studio Visit with some of the attendees
featured here - Matt, Kurt, Jorge, Kristina, Jan, Dante, Miranda, Lewis,
Naudline, François, Ines, Dominic,
Charlotte, and Aleksandra
New York Academy of Art students on the road!
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