Previously: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three

Monday February 5th

On February 5th, I took the train from D.C. to Richmond, Virginia. The train rolled into the city in the early evening. My friend’s husband picked me up and drove me to their new home, not far from the train station.

I was so excited to see my good friend Kristen and her husband Daniel, and finally meet her two young children: Alice age three, and Ada, 13 months. Kristen and I first met in Civita Castellana, Italy in the summer of 2017. We were roommates together in the JSS program , through which I had the incredible opportunity to paint in Italy for two weeks.

Over the years since that summer, Kristen and I managed to stay in touch and even meet up from time to time for various art adventures. But I hadn’t seen her since the summer of 2020, when she was pregnant with her first child, Alice. It felt like an eternity!

I had such a wonderful time! I really enjoyed playing with the little kids. But I have to admit, a one and a three year old are a lot of work! (My kids are 14 and 17 now, so I had sort of forgotten how intense younger kids are.) I really enjoyed myself, though. And I did lots of sketches of the kiddos during my visit.

*Ada at the breakfast counter, pencil on postcaord*

*Baby Ada, and Kristen looking at a book with Ada (postcards)*

Tuesday February 6th

On the first morning, Alice and I completed this unicorn puzzle. You can see how ecstatic we are at our achievement. It was a Big Deal.

*Alice and I complete a unicorn puzzle! #success*

That same morning, after dropping the kids off at preschool, Kristen and I went to a nearby cafe for lattes. Then we walked over to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, only a few blocks from Kristen’s house!

*Lattes with my artist friend* *Kristen*!

There was a special exhibit in the museum, "Elegy,” a solo show of work by Dawoud Bey. Dawoud Bey is a contemporary American artist, and the show displayed 42 of his photographs as well as two film instillations. It was a sobering and emotional experience, a beautiful yet harrowing look at American landscapes deeply connected to slavery. The show depicted, among other things, images from the Underground Railroad as well as the ruins of Louisiana plantations.

Kristen and I spent many hours at the Dawoud Bey show, quietly looking at each image, just being with it. I thought a lot about slavery, imagining the grim and terrifying realities that enslaved people had experienced in our country for centuries. It’s so strange to think that, historically speaking, slavery really wasn’t all that long ago. It was such a huge and traumatic part of our country’s history and, consequently, the aftershocks of it still reverberate in the present day.

“Elegy” offered a (needed) opportunity for people to contemplate slavery, something that we often don’t want to think about. It was very moving and powerful. After the show, Kristen and I decided not to look at any other paintings in the museum that day, we wouldn’t be able to take anything else in. So we quietly walked home, absorbing what we had seen, and reflecting on our experience.

I took a lot of photos of Dawoud Bey’s photos, but I don’t feel like they came out as well as those that you can see on the museum’s website, so I encourage you to look there. Here is one photo of a scene from the Underground Railroad that I got from the museum’s website:

*Untitled (Trail and Trees)*, 2023, Dawoud Bey (American, born 1953), gelatin silver print, 48 x 59 in. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Gift of Mrs. Alfred duPont, by exchange, 2020.168.1. Image © Dawoud Bey

There was another landscape in particular that I felt was especially moving, and I spent a long time sketching it. I think I would like to make some monotypes based on the sketch. Here is my sketch that I did that day:

Later that night, I offered to try to put little Ada to sleep. I rocked her back and forth and sang her lullabies, as I used to do with my own babies. When she finally yielded to sleep, I experienced that wonderful feeling, the heavy, damp little thump on my chest, the baby’s head finally giving up and succumbing to sleep. And my own deep breath of relief, grateful that peace has been achieved, at least for the moment.

It brought me almost to tears, realizing how that special period of motherhood is so fully over for me. My kids are big now, there’s no more holding them and singing them to sleep.

Wednesday February 7th

*Me in the museum, in awe. Gouache on postcard*

The next day, I had the opportunity to spend some time in the museum alone. What a treat! I loved the main collection there! In particular, they had several Bonnard and Vuillard paintings that I had never seen before, not even in books. There were so many—SO MANY— stunning paintings, and I wish I could put all the photos I took in this blog post, but it would be sooooooo long and impractical. So, I’ve selected my favorite Bonnard, as well as a few favorite details of paintings just to give you a teasing glimpse:

*“The Dining Room” oil painting by Bonnard (photo from my phone)*

favorite painting details:

I was in the museum alone for many hours and did a lot of sketches:

*sketch of a Morandi painting, pencil on a postcard*

Kristen brought the kids to the museum after preschool was over, and we had lunch there in the cafe. Then Alice and Ada and I had the best time ever going up and down in the glass elevator. Seriously, it was so fun!

*We LOVE the glass elevator in the Virginia Museum of Fine Art!!*

I painted a postcard of my memory of the elevator rides:

*Me and Ada and Alice in the glass elevator at the museum, gouache on postcard*

That evening, to celebrate my final night in Richmond, Kristen and I went back to the museum (obviously.) There was live jazz playing, and we shared some wine and listened to the music, sketching together blissfully. Then we wandered around the museum until it closed (9 pm on Wednesdays!) and let ourselves get so wonderfully lost in the paintings. I recall spending a looooong time in front of this huge red painting by Ad Reinhardt.

*a painting by Ad Reinhardt… I think the title is “Red.” It’s quite large!*

*Me and Kristen in front of a Monet painting.*

After the museum closed, we wandered around in the warm evening air. We stayed up very late, talking about art, life, and more art. It was just the best!

Thursday February 8th

I caught a very early train the next morning. When I was on the train heading back north to Philadelphia, I painted a bunch of postcards with gouache, and I did a painting—from memory— of the Bonnard painting I loved so much. I didn’t look at the sketch I did or the photo I took, I just did it totally with memory, and it was so fun to do that! I feel like I caught something of the essence of my experience of Bonnard’s beautiful painting, in spirit if not in accuracy.

*Memory of a Bonnard painting, gouache on postcard*

I had so much fun doing the “memory painting,” that I did two more based on a Monet painting I had seen, a view of his wife scene through a doorway looking in from the garden.

Here is the original, in case you are interested.

When I finally got back home, I was exhausted but also elated. Thanks again to everyone who bought a postcard from me, and helped make my trip possible! I’m sure I’ll be slowly digesting all my experiences in the coming months; all the amazing art and inspiration will take some time to absorb. But I already have some exciting new ideas of things to paint! And I have a few things already started in the studio now…

The End

Generous Permission

Monday February 5th

Tuesday February 6th

Thursday February 8th

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