Bayeux

Like Giverny and Etretat I had wanted to visit the Bayeux tapestry for as long as I can remember. As a young girl I read copiously during the summer months especially and then read a great deal of not only history, fiction, and art history but I was especially interested in European history and culture and therefore knew about a great many places I would wish to visit very very much. Bayeux was one if them.
This past summer I was finally able to and left Bayeux feeling as though I must return again and again. Hopefully I shall.
It takes a great deal of time to take it all in and as you are shuffled through almost as though you were at a blockbuster exhibition in a great museum and everyone wears earphones and that sets a certain pace, you can not easily go against the flow or even with it for that matter. I did not wear earphones because I really wanted to look and see for myself what was there. What I had not expected and what amazed me the most was how ANIMATED the figures were. It was alive and practically moving. There was also a great deal of humour in the depictions and scenes. I will show you above what I found . DO GO IF YOU CAN! Read up on it before so that you do not need the earphones and go early in the day if you can.
As a predecessor to comics and animation it is high up there for inspiration! Highly recommended to my friend Lamar!

Giverny

Claude Monet

Claude Monet


Claude Monet


This year I have been lucky enough to not only be able to visit the Alhambra in Granada and its magnificent garden but also Monet's Giverny. Both are places I have longed to see for more than twenty years at least!
We went to stay with a friend in Giverny and visited the garden out of hours and also in the dark evening with only the scent and sound to tell us about where we actually were. Completely magical and otherworldly. An unforgettable experience, one of the highlights certainly in my life.
Living in Europe again after such a long sojourn in the States has made it possible for me to visit more places here and for that I am truly happy despite missing my friends and life in the US.

Etretat

Matthew Alexander

Gustave Courbet

Claude Monet



We just returned from a trip to France and we finally visited Etretat. I have mentioned it before here on DJANG. Quite an extraordinary coast that Normandie-Maritime. White cliffs and coves for miles and miles. Then a dramatic carving by the sea culminating in Etretat. Sea art or land art?
So many artists have been inspired to record the place for themselves; Monet of course, but also Courbet and more recently ones like Matthew Alexander.
I hope you get to visit some day yourself.
This trip included several longstanding wishes for visits. Places I have wanted to see since my youth or childhood. Will get to them later though.

More from Lamar

Last spring Lamar Peterson had a show at the Richard Heller Gallery in Los Angeles. These images represent some of his new work shown there. If you look at earlier postings on DJANG you can see some of his previous work.
For more look up www.richardhellergallery.com or www.fredericksfreisergallery.com
What do you think?