Slowing Down To Notice

10/31/20254 min read

The landscape around me is an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of colors - the greens that welcomed us in June are slowly giving way to vibrant shades of autumn. From auburn to copper to gold to plum and so many others. These colors take me home, as do chestnuts tumbling down to the ground, the rustling of the fallen leaves, and crispy air. The need to slow down is more acute than ever. It is in stillness that I begin to notice.

This month I noticed an old box of oil sticks I’d bought in France two years before. They were always around in my studio, just sitting there in a quiet corner waiting to be noticed. I love the marks they leave on jute. Acrylic inks and watercolors on cotton canvas I favored in studio Florida are now giving way to oil pastels. Finding a box of them was thrilling yet for another reason - it was filled with all the autumn colors I saw around me. It was as if someone just handed them to me and said: “Hey, look around and paint what you see.” What I see, however, goes beyond the literal representation. While the colors I paint stem from the landscapes around me, the composition remains abstract. I sort of reinvent the landscapes that I see using the shapes and gestural marks that I have noticed in nature.

I remembered Jane Goodall this month and her ability to notice. She was “A Famous Person” for my daughter’s school project two years ago. Learning about her life and her work left an indelible mark on both of us. When Jane was five, she went missing for five hours. Her parents were worried and scared enough to get the police involved. When Jane returned to the house, it turned out she had been watching an egg get laid. The most interesting bit for me was the fact that her mother had understood that Jane was not just being naughty - she was curious. By not scolding her daughter, the mother taught her an invaluable lesson. It also reminded me to be more patient and present as a parent.

Vincent Van Gogh is known for his intense observation of nature. I didn’t begin to appreciate his work until three years ago when I found myself in front of one of his paintings at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. It was a tiny painting of flowers and I couldn’t get my eyes off it. I realized two things at that moment. Firstly, a work of art is best experienced in person. In fact I would argue that it’s the only way to appreciate it. Secondly, art is not about being beautiful. Art is about noticing things and interpreting them so that perhaps others can notice too.

When visiting art galleries and museums, I always gravitate towards small paintings. I find them mysterious. They hang on the wall in the sea of white space around them luring you in, begging to be noticed. I can’t help but walk towards them to see what the mystery is all about. It is one of the reasons that small paintings have always been at the heart of my practice.

As the seasons shift in the Ligurian countryside, I reach for new colors in my French pastels box. You can clearly see how autumn hues are taking over the canvas. My ongoing « Sono Erba » series is beginning to look like seasonal postcards. What could be better than staying in touch with ArtFull Postcards from Italy?

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With love from Liguria,

Anya

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ArtFull Postcards is a human-written monthly publication by Anya Baboyedova filled with art, creative inspiration, personal notes, studio updates and new work announcements.