A Venice Letter from my Studio
I hope that the beginning of 2019 has been a beautiful, joyful, and love filled time for you and yours. And I hope that the serenity and hope that filled your heart at the coming of a new year, continues to be with you throughout this year and beyond, and that it bring you an endless abundance of gifts.
Andrew Harvey, a mystic writer and teacher, is someone I have been blessed to learn from. In one of his online teachings, he shares an exercise in which we were to write about (10) moments in our life, in which we experienced awe. We then wrote the specifics about how this awe was experienced, and what this awe was telling us that makes us so excited. It sounds fairly simply, but upon such deep reflection on those moments of awe in my life, I was able to go quite deep into a well of knowing and appreciation of the true gifts within each of those moments of awe. Moments that I would otherwise gloss over in my memory.
It came to me as no surprise, that many of those moments in my life were experienced during my travels. And whether you have been reading my letters for years, or are new here, you likely will know the affinity, the reverence, and the passion I have for travel. For me, that does not mean I have to travel often. Rather, it means I have to travel well. One way in which that materializes for me, is that I often only visit one city, no matter the length of my stay. I enjoy immersing myself slowly into a new culture, and trying to experience it as if I was living there, not just passing by.
Several letters ago, some time after returning from my trip to Paris, I touched upon how I would not be painting and sharing my work as often as I typically did. This turned out to be a good thing for two reasons. One, being something that I hope to share in the coming months, and the other being that it has given me insights into seeing my work in a larger context. One example of that is a deeper sense of gratitude towards the places that continue to inspire my art, not the least of which is the city of Venice. Sadly, I am seeing and reading about many ways in which the city is being threatened. From it architecture, be it the cruise ships causing detriment to fragile foundations and walls, or flooding during high tides, to its culture and the livelihood of the Venetians, be it mass, and sadly often insensitive, tourism, the rising cost of living, the closing of small shops that cater to locals, and the lack of work opportunities to encourage younger generations of Venetians to stay within the city. Much of this I have come to learn of, through the twitter account of Dream of Venice.
Being that much of what is harming the city of Venice results from mass tourism, I cannot help but feel that if I return I must somehow earn my right to do so. I do not know exactly what that means for me right now. But what I do know and what I can do is help to fortify the city, in my own minuscule way, through supporting the work of Save Venice, a nonprofit which has been working on architectural restoration and art conservation projects throughout the city. If you are a collector, your support has helped enable me to become a member, so I am very grateful for being able to play my small part.
In my next letter, I will share another place in Italy that I am passionately painting. It happens to be a bit off the beaten path. It's a place I haven't spoken about or painted very often in the past, but it is strangely very close to my heart. I will look forward to sharing with you.
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