I have just finished cancelling all my Christmas and New Year plans - and I am sure that you may have done the same thing in recent days. Both my sons were in contact with people who were in contact with people who are COVID positive. While it seems like the potential is relatively remote, given the difficulty we are all currently facing to get tested, we are starting our isolation and making sure that we are keeping our loved ones safe.
This sucks! It really does. Personally, I had come to terms with the that we were going to have to learn to live with this new reality but never would I have thought that we would see such spikes, breaking records and seeing friends, family and colleagues fall ill or be struck with anxious realities in such large numbers. I do hope that this blog finds you safe and healthy and am wishing the same for your friends and family.
It is interesting to contrast the feeling of recent days to the spirit of my last painting. Last summer, I bought two 36 by 36-inch canvases with the goal of painting big skies. I love painting skies and just wanted to go big! I first painted Sky High, which I think turned out into a cool abstract landscape.
I then started the second one shortly thereafter and over the summer and fall months, I must have redone the sky 4 or 5 times. It was never quite right. The more I would touch it, the more I would dislike it. Or when the sky was proving to be promising, the landscape part was just falling short.
I finally decided to put it aside and I didn’t know when I was going to go back to it. In the meantime, my son introduced me to the singer Étienne Coppée and his song Demain il fera beau (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdZezXTN9Ow ). It is a beautiful, hopeful song that just makes you feel better. It is the type of song that you listen to, on a loop, in your car when you are feeling crappy. Not knowing how my painting would turn out, I decided to call the painting "Demain il fera beau" (Tomorrow it will be Sunny).
Weeks turned into months and it was only last weekend that I decided to try one more time to get this big sky right. As my style is expressionism and driven by the moment as opposed to copying an existing landscape depicted in a photograph or drawing, I never know at the onset what will ultimately emerge. And sometimes, it is just magic and the feeling felt is conveyed in the painting in such a beautiful way. When I look at "Demain il fera beau", there is a peaceful sense of hope and calmness that fills me up and I could not be happier.
It reminds me of the meaning of this season; despite the darkness, it is a season of hope and joy.
Tomorrow will be sunny, and this difficult period that we are all facing will pass.
My life is blessed by all of you, and the gratitude that I have keeps growing every single day.
May this season, while we may not be living it the way we had planned, be filled with gratitude and the certainty that tomorrow... it will be a better day!
Merry Christmas
Joyeux Noël
My very best wishes for the new year
Mes meilleurs voeux pour la nouvelle année
Mireille
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