We just need to remember to look for it!
There’s Always A Silver Lining…
An Art Residency in France
Today I’ve been working on what will likely be the last painting I create at my Art Residency at Chateau Orquevaux. As I painted, the last in what has become a connected series, I began to examine why it was important for me to do such a thing. Here they are, in order of importance for me.
1. Connection
I’ve been painting in relative isolation for the past years, in my home studio, and loving it. I realize now that I applied for the residency not just for the place to paint but for connection with like minded people. I love the artists I’ve met; they are my extended family. We share ideas, philosophies, dreams, and aspirations easily and without judgement. We see the world as possibility in colour, shape, line, texture and design. Picasso’s wordless book of bridesmaids has a storyline we can interpret easily together. Between us, there is only support and sharing, competition just isn’t a thing here. We laugh together when we could be crying and we cry together when we could be laughing. Everyone here is whole and rich and perfect because that’s what we notice about each other first and foremost. We just generally get each other.
Having a tribe, a tribe that I’ve lived communally with for a month, that I’ve shared meals and wine with and created with, who come from all over the world, who are a variety of ages, who have distinctly different styles and experiences, who came with the same awe and excitement I came with, who have the same reverence for art and creating, well, that’s as golden as it gets in the work world. And yes, making art, creating, is work. Important work. Valuable work. The French get that. Connection is belonging.
2. Learning
I’ve loved the studio spaces just above the bedrooms, the rhythm of each artist’s working days, and the chats about creations and processes when studio doors are open. Learning is one of my drivers. When I’m learning, I feel alive. Yesterday, I found out about the brute art movement in broken English. My heart was filling up as I listened. I’d already viewed the exhibit. I knew how it made me feel. Yes, I feel art. At lunch today, while articulating how my painting morning was going, I generally like to paint uninterrupted from 9:00-2:00, I understood how much more exhausting it is for me to paint a series than it is to paint completely intuitively. Intentional painting, for me is less enjoyable. My bucket gets filled when I feel free. April, a writer in residence, understood this feeling and expressed how she noticed it come up for her in her practice as well. Having an opportunity to discuss our inner observations really helped me to consider freedom as one of my basic human needs even beyond art.
3. Change
I have new rituals that I will integrate into my home practice. Eating breakfast, slowly, as well as drinking coffee every morning, is going to happen everyday even without the croissants. I will put more attention into line and into learning about the New York art scene and emerging artists. Opening my home to artist gatherings and work stays will be on my radar. A residency or two every year will become a regular part of who I am and what I do.
4. Joy
I always say, gratitude paves the road to joy. I feel it here x’s 10. This place, Orquevaux, is beautiful. Discovering it and each other; I am so grateful. This is magic and coincidence at its very best! Thank you Ziggy Attias, for your vision and your invitation.
Chateau Orquevaux Artist Residency
After Paris, I rented a little car. Doing this from home, before I left, was much more economical than doing it as a walk up. I used sixt and this was what was waiting for me when I arrived. A brand new Citroen. 
The Chateau is a dream! It’s the vision of Ziggy Atticus. He’s an artist, originally from New York, who is now creating an oasis for artists in this beautiful French hamlet. 
A family of coypus are what create the dirt piles in the foreground.
The bedroom I’m in is just gorgeous!
It looks out over and beyond the scene above.
There are chickens for fresh eggs and goats for cuddling. (They smell exactly like goat cheese) 
When I’m not enjoying the little village and the grounds,
I paint! That’s why I received the scholarship to be here, after all!
Ziggy jokingly said that he changes the locks after every residency but I think he actually might have to. It’s a perfect spot for anyone who loves to create!
I’m so grateful to have been chosen to attend while also receiving a scholarship to do so!
If you are interested in the residency you can apply through Instagram. Just post your work and tag Chateau Orquevaux. Dreams can come true.
Every Moment Has a Lesson
This morning I awoke with one puffy eye and some knowing.
- I knew there was something missing from Tony Robbins’ definition of
success. Doing what you want when you want where you want how you want sounded more like the petulance of a tweenaged child than sound advice. I wanted it doused in gratitude and love before it was given out. - I knew that I needed to tell someone I trusted something I’d been holding before it dragged me down. The telling divided the weight in exactly half and made it bearable.
- I knew that I was NOT responsible nor meant to feel responsible for the words and action/inaction of another soul so when that stuff came my way, I put it back where it belonged.
- I knew it was okay to ask for some help and to give some help.
- I knew I could continue to forgive and rationalize pretty much anything but that it was okay to acknowledge my own boundaries and my, values, and my beliefs.
- I knew that the guy with the really big camera we saw on our walk was someone who knew what he was doing by the way he was listening to the trees, looking through them, and focusing all of his attention on the magic the forest held secret. He wasn’t just a guy with a really big camera, he was a sorcerer, manifestor, photographer, or whatever label you’d choose to apply.
- I knew that the beavers, two of them, that had shown up unexpectedly on a different walk belonging to a different person, were there to guide and show the way to that person and I did my best to help him see it.
- I knew that my friend was as right as she’d ever been; right to her very core when she said we were blessed to live where we do and that it was a sort of utopia. Having traveled some, I knew that most people could find that sentiment where they lived, and that if they did, Earth would be better off.
- I knew that Elon Musk was alright when I saw his picture of this quote in his feed; Art washes from the soul the dust of everyday life. Picasso. I would still encourage him to spend time in the forest every day, too.
- I knew that a grateful person, a loving person, a caring and generous person, could walk in Tony Robbins’ quote with grace, but a greedy, seedy, self-serving person could make it ugly, ugly, ugly.
- I knew, as I walked in the woods and mulled all this over and chattered with my friend about our dogs and the nuances of our lives that my guiding quotes, the ones I continue to share with others will remain: Be the change you want to see in the world. Ghandi and Beauty will save the world. Dostoevsky
My eye is still puffy, despite antihistamine. I suspect the lesson is either that I can rest it a little today after I check my bed for a spider or that I should look out of my left eye when taking pictures or analyzing life.
Sherri Jean McCulloch 