On June 18, 12-year-old granddaughter Emmy sent me a letter. The first I heard of it was about two weeks later when she and her family drove up from VA for the 4th of July weekend, and she asked if I'd received any mail from her. I had received nothing.
Emmy explained that she'd come up with a painting challenge for us but didn't reveal any details. We thought the letter would surely arrive while she was visiting.
Nope. Not then, not the next week, not the next.
Thinking back to a mail carrier tractor-trailer accident earlier in 2022, I knew full well that mail can go irretrievably astray. As summer continued to unfold I figured Emmy's letter was long gone.
But … just kidding!
It arrives August 1st!
The envelope shows not one sign of wear or tear. It sports a postal bar code but otherwise has not one clue as to its adventures over the past six weeks—the stamp is uncanceled; there is nary a postmark.
Inside, intact and patiently awaiting my attention, sit my marching orders.
Hi Gma! NEW CHALLENGE!!!! I want you to re-create a Claude Monet painting and please attempt to finish it by the time I leave from the July 4th trip. Once you're done, choose ANY artist and send a note back. I'm thinking we could do this over summer?? LOVE YOU.
—Emmy
p.s. (When we see the other's painting we could have to find the painting they re-created?)
With a planned visit from Emmy and family just three days ahead, I kept news of the arrival of the letter to myself, put aside all other studio projects, and got myself in high gear!
Watch out, Claude!
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Dotty and Claude Have F - U - N Painting 9 x 9" appropriation of Monet's Yellow Irises with Pink Cloud acrylic and oil pastels on drawing paper floral 2022 ---  Yellow Irises With Pink Cloud Claude Monet 42 x 42 inches oil on canvas floral 1917 |
6 comments:
This is way too much fun! I can easily imagine that your granddaughter's challenge and your response is bringing a broad, delighted smile from Claude himself, somewhere in the cosmos.
Claude is lovin' it, as are we. Now I will pick a painter from whose work Emmy will select a piece to re-create : )
So fun! I love this! You will share Emmy's with us? :)
It really was fun for me, with a bunch of in-the-moment challenges and learnings. I love when I get in flow with process and it becomes my all in the moment. Yes, I'll share Emmy's. First, I need to select an artist for her.
How much fun! The results are amazing! Claude, you have some real competition here! Have you chosen an artist for Emmy? Suggest continuation challenges through email!
One of the fun and engaging parts of this challenge was to suss out how Claude might have approached this painting. Even if I missed the mark in that respect, it was elucidating to recognize how differently *I* approached it relative to how I might have 7 or 8 years ago as a new painter. Emmy is here visiting now; I'll choose an artist for her once she's returned home, since we are busy with other art projects in person.
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