I’m wanderlusting – big time – and I suspect for two reasons. First, I saw the Cleveland Museum of Art exhibit, Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse (go see it!!). Second, I’m finally unpacking boxes of artwork that I’m ready to display in our new home, many that I purchased while traveling over the years.
During the CMA exhibit, I saw blueprints and plans for Monet’s famous garden and home with his studios in Giverny, France, that I visited 15 years ago (OMG, it’s been THAT long?). I remember feeling pinch-me happy that I was eating gelato while standing at the edge of the water lily pond that was a muse for so many paintings that I love.
The CMA exhibit reminded me of that time the person I sat next to on the chunnel train from London to Paris invited me to a dinner party that night and I actually went. I was the only person who spoke English and I stayed out so late that I missed the train back to my hotel but I had a salad with an enormous helping of goat cheese and I was walking on air as I tried to find my way back to my hotel in the wee hours.
That memory spurred reminiscing of riding the shinkansen to Kyoto, Japan, and then taking buses with LED screens only in Japanese characters to a small mountain town. Man, I had balls back in the day!
When I was younger and I couldn’t afford to travel across the globe to visit museums aplenty, I would arm myself with art-inspired gear that I would see and smile at every day. My top-of-wallet credit card featured a water lily print and my kitchen cutting board was of a Monet garden print (I’m wincing now).
These days, different reasons are precluding me from packing up my stuff for a few weeks and exploring faraway lands. So, while I wait to book my next adventure, I’ve been sorting through my moving boxes of artwork that I haven’t yet framed and framed pieced that have yet to find a home in my new home.
I’ve felt a strong pull to decorate our bedroom in very specific colors – gray-blue, gray, white, dusty pink and coral – which is interesting because I’ve not used that combo before. As I unpacked a box, I discovered a beautiful flyer with cherry blossoms for a museum in Japan that incorporated all of those colors, and I laughed out loud. So that’s why…
Around the same time, I stumbled across a photo in a magazine about how to create a gallery wall, and POOF! I decided to make the wall across from my bed a reflective and inspirational gallery of pieces that remind me of my most favorite travel moments every time I wake up and greet the day.
From this…
to something like this!
Over the holidays, I’m excited to pull this look together. I’ve been trolling Etsy, local frame shops and poring through my unpacked boxes again and again to curate just the right look that both my hubs and I will want to wake up to every morning. I love that it also minimizes our bedroom TV.
Working to get this just right for morning Mount Fuji sightings
What do you do to hold on tightly to travel memories that make you smile? I’d love to hear how you try to keep them top-of-mind in between trips.
I’m working on a gallery wall, too, though not nearly as wanderlust-inspired as yours. After eight or so years of hoping to eventually move back to Ohio, I moved to Cleveland in July – & so my gallery wall is pretty Buckeye State-centric, the very opposite of wanderlusting!
I’ll be mixing in some CLE to my gallery wall too! I have a BEAUTIFUL watercolor of CMA and the Wade Lagoon during spring time with blooming cherry blossoms that I’ve had for years and I can’t wait to get it framed and on the wall. Now I just need to decide on the mat and frame…so many choices!