More Art in the Park

Tuesday
After my work out at the gym late morning, I headed over to Sharon Woods to have another go at finding the Art for all installation there. Early last week I had done my usual walk around the lake and through the gorge and hadn't come across it then. Later in the week I popped in the park again to go to the visitor center to get a replacement drive-in sticker for Hamilton County Parks, and didn't see it in that area either. Roger had suggested it may be over near the golf course, so I tried there this morning, but it wasn't there either. But as I was leaving, I was driving slowly along the stream across from the visitor center, and I saw it - actually pretty close to where I'd been on my second visit, but the next bridge along!
This "painting" is entitled Evening on the Oise , by Charles Francois Daubigny, French landscape painter. Daubigny was born in Paris on the 15th of February 1817, but spent much time as a child at Valmondois, a village on the Oise to the northwest of Paris. He was the son of an artist, and most of his family were painters. Initially Daubigny painted in a traditional style, but this changed after 1843 when he settled in Barbizon to work en pein air, outside in nature. Even more important was his meeting with Camille Corot in 1852. He built a floating studio, which he entitled Le Botin. From his boat he would paint scenes along the Seine and Oise, often in the region around Auvers, capturing nuances of light and atmosphere, painting endless variations on the same composition. Claude Monet would continue and develop this idea in his painting. Just as city dwellers today will often fantasize about escaping to the country for clean air and beautiful vistas, so did Parisians in 1863, when this painting began to take shape, and factories brought noise and pollution to the city. The popularity of landscapes skyrocketed then, because such paintings opened imaginary windows onto the refreshing world of fragrant greenery.
On my way home I stopped off at the supermarket to get some groceries. The rest of the afternoon I was at home doing odd jobs.

One year ago: Citrus ginger chicken