Doors are so important!
Monet House and Gardens, Giverny, Normandy, France
Just a short train ride from the center of Paris is the home of artist, Claude Monet. On a beautiful day, Elizabeth and I went to Giverny in Normandy France to visit these gardens which inspired Monet. Indeed they are inspirational and every way you turn, there is an exceptional photograph to be taken.
boats surrounded by bamboo and water
You may recognize these little boats from some of Monet’s paintings. I am sure they are not the same ones, however the idea is there. This setting is incredibly inspirational and if I were an impressionistic painter, I would be spending my time in this spot painting all day long.
I was inspired in a different way with this trip, however. I was looking for something when I was in Paris. When I went, I wasn’t sure what it was, but I intended to find out. The colors are interesting as it is a rather gray city where other colors truly “pop”, and the buildings are not too tall (there are a lot of tunnels under Paris). The people are wonderful and friendly and that is always nice to find when you travel. There was something else, though. I knew my art was turning a corner (I learned that when I was traveling back and forth between the US southwest and the US east coast over the last year), and I intended to find out in Paris!
One day when I was walking around the city with Elizabeth, Andrea and a new friend Sabrina, it hit me! I am looking for doors! Yes, you heard me, I am looking for doors – as in architectural features. Paris has some amazing doors and amazing doors open to reveal new things. I am looking for new horizons behind doors and a new way to merge all of these delightful expressions I have hiding inside of me. Wow! Who would have known? So I sat down and had myself a good long talk with Andrea about this realization. She talked me through some things, pointed out some things she thought warranted consideration and viola, I here by dub Kim and Andrea The Door Queens! I will be exploring the metaphors for the door and how that all plays into the work I hope to move forward with now. This feels so right, do you know that feeling when it is so right to proceed?
One of the things I realized is that architectural features are comfortable for me, so the door makes sense (I also love windows, but hey, you can’t do everything all the time)! With Andrea’s encouragement I have also began allowing myself some sketching time without drafting tools! This is the hardest part for me to allow myself to quickly, freely sketch something which resembles something else and not draft it! So here you go…
Along the Rue Royale
These doors are really a beautiful red, however this sketch is done on paper board which does not take wet media very well. I haven’t taken the time to use colored pencil or marker on it, so here you have it as an ink sketch done with a nib pen. You just might see these doors again, as I seem to be making other sketches of them!
Now you know doors are my current obsession. I am still highly drawn to my abstract work, but realized how important it is for me to explore these things in every detail. I also need art I can practice when I am not able to get into my studio. This gives me greater opportunity to explore a lot of ideas and still do the abstract work I so adore!
Tell me about the times when something hit you over the head as you were just going along minding your own business.
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There are 10 Comments to "Doors are so important!"
I am still waiting for that thing to hit me over the head. lol
Your drawing of the doors freehand is wonderful. You are very good at freehand.
How fun to have gotten over to Paris to visit and tour. I bet Andrea was a fantastic guide.
I am envious of your trip to Monets Gardens. Andrea sent me some photos she took there and I was so jazzed to get them. Arent you glad you went when you did and that volcano didnt ruin your trip. ? Oh and Iove doors too. Lots of mystery behind them and lots of openings to other things for sure.
This is such an exciting post Kim. YOu are such an inspiration, going all the way to Paris to research and search for you knew not what at first. And it turned out to be doors. Love your sketch, freehand without drafting tools. And envy your heartening talk with andrea. You are both so talented and filled with ideas. I’d like to be a fly on the table to hear your conversation. also, so wonderful you took this trip with your daughter. so meaningful for you both.
I’d have to ponder you question as nothing comes to mind for me. Most of my inspiration seems to come on gradually. I wish i would get hit on the head like chicken little. the sky is falling…..
Well, Cris, maybe it isn’t a good thing to be hit on the head with these insights as sometimes they end up giving you a super headache!
Thank you for your kind words about my freehand drawing. I have to tell you not pulling out those tools was a real test for me, but I was determined.
This was my 4th trip to Paris, but it is a city which never ceases to amaze me. It was the first time I had visited with Andrea there and her insights were invaluable. She helped me to get to Giverny, too…the Gardens are amazingly inspirational. I will be sharing more photos to be sure.
I have to tell you that the day we flew back rail workers were on strike, so Andrea’s wonderful husband made sure I had all the information I needed and gave me excellent advice for getting to the airport in a timely fashion. They are a wonderful couple, there is no doubt about that!
Yes, you are right, there is a lot of mystery behind doors…some which are incredibly mysterious which I will share a bit later.
Thanks so much Cris for popping in. You always bring such a wonderful energy to the conversation!
Hello Suki, I am glad you think this one is exciting. I have to say I am very excited about this adventure. Awe Shucks! Me? An inspiration? Golly, I have to say travel is something I believe is so important to my work and to my life! This trip was a gift to me and I was determined to make the most of it…and I sure did that! This feels so right, so good and so what I needed to do at this point.
Oh, talking with Andrea is amazing. She is so inspirational, as you know from her online presence! She is just like that for real! You are so sweet to say that…it may be difficult to imagine, but I am really a shy person, but Andrea has a way of drawing me out. When I am behind the computer I have a lot more confidence.
Elizabeth and I are old Paris hands. This is my 3rd trip there with her and every time we learn more and more new things about the city. It was truly a special and memorable trip!
Ha Ha Ha! I am often being hit over the head with inspiration – I wonder if I just don’t know when the gradual piece is happening and the universe says if you can’t hear me, I will shout!
Thanks Suki, you are an incredible inspiration and I so appreciate your visits and insights.
Kim….sounds like you are having way toooo much fun. Isn’t it great to be able to go and let the universe lead you to ….wherever. I think that is one of the best things about being an artist…we tend to just let go and believe.
Doors…they are so many things….new beginnings, new spaces. new discoveries, old discoveries, places of mystery, opening of the spirit, allowing, freedom, history and most of all being brave enough to discover yourself.
My moment of revelation came when my Mother died. We all know death is out there but when it comes knocking at your door you realize just how fragile life is. Before she died I wanted to know everything about her . What were her favorite colors, song, etc. I thought I knew the answers but did I ? Questions came with a desperate urgency. Her death rocked my world yet I discovered a strength within myself I never dreamed was there.
I was blessed….my Mother gave birth to me twice. Her second gift of life has allowed me to live more freely, less judgmental, and fearless.
Go forth … share, love, laugh and be grateful.
Oh Kim, this is amazing! I have always loved doors – as Gwen says, they are such amazing portals to other worlds – something hidden and maybe unknown? Maybe home and comfort and privacy…I have soo many photos of doors! I can only imagine what you will do with this – and it makes me smile! I also love the way that cultures put amulets and symbols on doors – they are such a personal expression of space.
Your inspirational trip to Paris sounds truly amazing, and to have such a wonderful guide as your local friend must have been such a gift.
I’m not so organised about inspirations – they just flow onto me when I’m working. As I dissociate from the result the piece forms itself – “letting go and letting God” to quote Julia Cameron. I do find that I need to walk on the beach or sit and watch the sky or visit an antique shop or fabric store regularly – that fills me up.
I had to have a little chuckle at your comments on freehand drawing of architectural details…heehee! That’s the old interior designer coming out in you! Great drawing though!!
I’m really looking forward to seeing the next step on this journey.
Arohanui.
Hello Gwen, I completely agree with you about allowing the universe lead us where we need to go! Gee, when I worked for corporate America, I couldn’t do that! Believing is a huge part of this, you are right…without that, what would we have and how sad would it be?
I love the psychological metaphors the idea of doors present. When you think about it, the whole idea of what they stand for becomes a basis for explaining some of the unexplained! They are incredibly intuitive.
Ohh, you are right, when someone close to us moves on you have revelations you never dreamed were possible. That is the gift, isn’t it, in life itself? The passing of one life, often can make other lives so much stronger. When you recognize this, it seems to me it is honoring the life and the spirit of the person we love so much! It sounds like your mother left you with gifts too great to mention!
Now you are sharing these lovely gifts with others and hopefully, we too, can honor your mother by learning so much through her daughter!
Thank you Gwen, I will sure remember to “Go forth…share, love, laugh and be grateful.”
Thank you Lesley! I am glad you like this post. Ah, you have been onto doors for a long time, then! You have been contemplating them for quite a few years. I can understand how they are important for you, too, since you are not a person to allow lessons to flow past you without contemplation. Ah, yes, this is so true about various cultures putting amulets and symbols on doors as a personal expression. It gives us a preview, doesn’t it? Sometimes, too, they are seasonal – at least we have that here.
My trip was wonderful and Andrea and her husband were so good to us. It is always nice to see a place through the eyes of someone who lives there. The nice thing about them is that Andrea is not a native Parisian, however her husband has lived there all of his life! Two views! Yes, a true GIFT!
I agree with you and Julia Cameron about “letting go and letting God”…it is the only way the true muse can rattle our human brains! For me, the realization is a powerful bonk on the head rather than a gentle flow…it kind of simmered for about 5 minutes…then whop…it is what I needed to do! I am finding more and more that travel becomes more and more powerful in inspiring me…although I do gain inspiration from other sources – paua shells, for example!
Well, you get that all too well with the interior design drawing, Les! I spent too many years doing that, now the time has come to let it go! Thank you for your kind words.
I am looking forward to the next step, too! It feels as though it is going to be incredible!
Thank you my darling friend!
Kim I love this sketch, it is such a wonderful line drawing, and also there’s so much of you I can see in this sketch now:), I love the roundness of the lines and the details you draw! There is much patience in there and a wish for a certain precision, but not too much of it. I love this inspiration you had, and I must say I was hit on the head with YOUR door inspiration when I began taking pictures of the doors in my arrondissement for you:) And suddenly I LOOK at many many doors. I always thought doors worth a sketch, a painting, a photograph but never made it a project.
Now I want to take pictures of doors everywhere here in Paris.
Last Monday, I spent the afternoon with a friend and her daughter, walking through the 2nd and part of the 1st arrondissement, shooting pictures of doors, and they helped me find them too, shouting out now and then: Oh THERE is one you should take, oh and look this one here and so on it went:)
You are right, doors speak and are parts of a house’s face! We all now that cause when we where little (and even now?:) we see those “house-faces”…
So, I can say that this time, inspiration hit me through you:) I have not made any sketches yet, I’m just taking many pictures, but in time I’ll know what my part of this project may be. There is so much meaning in doors…. Thanks for the inspiration my friend!
Thank you so much Andrea! These doors really struck me. I love these which go into the courtyards. Drawing these has been great fun, if not a test of my need for tools! LOL Patience I have learned and precision keep nagging at me, but I am learning and trying to loosen it up. I think when I do, I will find the graphic quality I am looking for in the sketching.
I think I really love architectural features, because if you think about it these relate to life itself. I have always enjoyed the psychology of art and architecture, so the door makes a lot of sense. I so love the photos you sent of the other Paris doors you took in your arrondissement and find them incredibly inspirational. It is a funny thing about a camera, isn’t it? This little box really forces you to see the world in a very different way. I love that so much…then we can use that knowledge we have gained and put that down on paper or canvas or however it comes out. It sounds as though your picture taking of doors in Paris is becoming a project in itself! I don’t know, I think there is probably a project in there kind of simmering away.
Oh these photos of the doors in the 2nd arrondissement are fabulous. I love the worn quality of them…gee, I wonder what in the world is on the other side. Did you wonder about that with your friends? Some of them have clues with the signs, but some leave you guessing and that is cool!
House faces are so much fun!
Well, we inspire each other without a doubt! Sometimes, it hits us over the head and at other times is comes on subtly! You keep taking photos of those Paris doors, because they are truly amazing architectural features!
Thank you so much Andrea for your wonderful inspiration and encouragement! You are a great artist all around!