Wrapping up...

Thursday comes so quickly! With lots done this week, I'm ready to shift gears and go to the museum for a couple of days.

Meanwhile, Thursday I talk about an artist. We'll stick with Impressionists for awhile and I'll talk about Camille Pissarro.

A few years ago (wait--many years ago) Chris and I were in Boston visiting friends and we went to the Museum of Fine Art. There are 46 paintings by Monet and I couldn't wait to see every single one of them. But somewhere along the way I got distracted. I walked through a gallery and a small painting on a far wall grabbed my attention. The light and colors really gleamed. I sat and sketched trying to capture what it was that I loved so much about this painting. Later in the store, I bought a small white book with other paintings by this artist and read as much as I could about Pissarro in the back seat of my friends' car.

Pissarro was born in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas (I've been to his house!) in 1830. Later he trained in Paris and relocated there with his family. He was a committed Socialist and is known somewhat as a fatherly figure to the other impressionists. He mentored Cezanne, Van Gogh and offered a calm stabilizing force to the other more rash members of the group. He was also willing to learn from younger artists.

He took his art seriously, but didn't seem to take himself seriously. That's one of my goals as well.