It was so lovely to immerse ourselves in culture, art, and history. Chelsea and I hadn’t been in Europe since 2012 for our honeymoon, so being back was long overdue.
Our itinerary was London, Paris, and Amsterdam. We crammed in all the obvious must-do’s, including (but not limited to): The Louvre, The Musee D’Orsay, Leeds Castle, The Cliffs of Dover, London Tower, Canterbury Cathedral, Big Ben, The Eiffel Tower, The Anne Frank House,The van Gogh Museum, Rembrandt’s Home and Studio, The London Eye and so much more.
If you asked me what I liked best, I couldn’t give an answer. I was completely overtaken with inspiration on this trip.
Once I finish unpacking and catching up on emails, I just want to paint and create and experiment with new styles and techniques.
I’m so proud of our kids for how well they travel. They’re already more worldly than I was in my twenties. All three of them are teaching themselves French now, in addition to Spanish at school and Judah is also working on his Dutch.
We even got to spend the day with Arnout and Marriette, two of Chelsea’s cousins in The Netherlands.
One of the big lessons I also took away from this was that it’s okay to slow down –Funny lesson to be reminded of on a trip that didn’t offer any downtime. We walked an average of 18-20K steps per day and carpe diem’ed the crap outta each day of the trip.
But when I’m in work mode at home, I give myself guilt trips regularly for not working hard enough or for not accomplishing something huge each day. Any entrepreneurs reading this? Can you relate? Let me know in the comments. The thing is, when you work for yourself, you generally have more flexibility (in theory) but we generally work 10X harder than we would with a 9 to 5.
Going away for two weeks and not having the world come crashing down around me reminds me that it’s ok to just do things for me without a huge mission behind it. Maybe that’s weird for some of you to read coming from an artist, but hey…Gotta be real with you.
Getting back to the museums though…Wow. Too much to process to comment on everything. Some of the things we saw you’d expect, or have heard of. So I thought I’d offer some thoughts on some of the highlights that you may not have been to or heard of.
The van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam…I’ve already been a huge van Gogh fan. But seeing this much of his work in one spot and seeing how prolific he was inspired me. Also, seeing how imperfect his work was (which made it perfect) is something I need to be reminded of often. I tend to spend too long on my major works. So thanks Vincent for reminded me that it’s ok to just go for it, do what you can do and then call it done.
Rembrandt’s home studio – We got to stand in the home of one of the world’s more iconic masters of all time. I stood in the space where he painted, where he suffered (such tragedies in his life…horrible..do some Googling), where he slept and ate and looked out the windows that he did.
He really lived like a baller until it all came crashing down around him. Another good lesson that most artists and every rapper should be reminded of: Be financially responsible.
I even got to draw in the attic studio where they had supplies and a marble bust as a model.
The Anne Frank House – Technically a museum now, so I include this on my list. Not really her “house” at all. Her family’s hiding place until the Nazi bastards found them. I admittedly never read her diary until this trip. So the story was fresh in my mind as we stood in the rooms where she slept and hid. Having come from maternal grandparents who escaped the Holocaust, this visit really impacted me.
Coming home was bittersweet. I guess most trips are like that if you do it right eh? I bring back a little bit of Europe in my heart.
Now that I’m back though, it’s time to see what I’m capable of with my artwork. I’m feeling artistically renewed and ready to make some shifts in how I approach my work and career.
I thank you all for being on this journey with me. Without you, none of this would be possible.
