Yes, Monet is still inspiring...

Last month a dear friend invited me to accompany her to visit the Monet exhibition at the DeYoung Museum. I haven't been traveling in to San Francisco much the past couple of years, it's just too much of a commitment these days with the traffic in the Bay Area. And, the other thing is, let's just be honest, I wasn't super motivated to go see a Monet exhibit. I mean, really, this is an artist whose record has been played a million/gazillion times and we are all unavoidably familiar with his work, right? T-shirts, key chains, posters, coffee mugs - I know you know what I'm talking about. So it was with true delight that the exhibit turned out to be incredible - really - a true revelation. This show was about the work he did in his later years. He was pushing the envelope, experimenting with color and technique and working like crazy (getting up at 4AM and going to the studio), and producing SO MUCH WORK and on SUCH A LARGE SCALE! This was inspiring stuff, and a breath of fresh air to see gorgeous Monet paintings that haven't found their way onto a calendar. Wow, thank you C.G. for the invitation and showing me something I didn't know I needed to see.

Look at those loose brush strokes and the pop of color