Bromley Art Society Bringing Artists Together since 1947

Arriving in Paris I was met at the airport by a French lady holding up a board with bold  writing “ARTSTUDY”. It was a one and a half hour’s drive by taxi to our destination  together with two more people who had just arrived from the USA.  We were going to  attend an oil painting course in Giverny by a well known American tutor.  On entering  the village, we drove along the one-mile long rue Claude Monet passing stoned cott- ages and terraced gardens arriving at a beautiful French country lodge in the middle  of the village where we were going to stay for the next ten days.  We were introduced  to the rest of the group and then were served a delicious lunch out on the patio over- looking the village.  

On that same afternoon, we walked down the rue Claude Monet only three minutes  away from our lodgings was Monet’s house and gardens.  Oh what a sight confronted  our eyes… it was breathtaking!  It was the beginning of June and the flowers in bloom  were prolific…. all the colour and so many different varieties of plants, the lily pads on the ponds covered with water lilies…the irises….the roses….the scent – it was stunning.  

We would be painting for ten days in Monet’s gardens en plein eir every day for two  hours in the afternoon after all the tourists departed.  Every Monday the gardens are  closed to visitors so that the gardeners can work there, BUT artists are allowed to go in  with special permission.  How fortunate we were to spend two full Mondays in the  gardens painting, with no people around to peep over our shoulder.  What a unique  opportunity this was, what better place to observe colour directly from nature. 

There were several field trips organised for us during the day which combined seeing  many places in the south of Normandy together with painting and our tutor was excell- ent.  We were pampered with the traditional French Cuisine together with wine.  We  also had the opportunity to paint in the famous Musee Baudy Hotel and gardens where  the impressionists, Cezanne, Pissaro and other great artists stayed and worked  - the  Studio is still there. The evenings were spent with lectures, demos and group critiques  and discussions. 

It was always my desire to visit Monet’s Gardens and it had proved to be an exper- ience of a lifetime…….and for me a dream which came true.  I came away with ten  oil paintings on linen canvas (one for each day) and of course…. full of inspiration.

Dessie Michael