Art + Garden = Monet

"My Garden is my most beautiful masterpiece." Claude Monet

I have a photo of Claude Monet on my desk. You can't think about art and gardening without referencing Monet. He nearly went bankrupt trying to support his garden. Spent so much time watering it ( most of it needed to be done by hand, carting the water from the creek that fed the Japanese Garden.) he didn't have time to paint. I can relate. He prioritized, and the garden came first. He also loved to cook. When I visited his home in Giverny in 1992 it was like a spiritual quest. I felt a deep connection to him.
As I toured through his home I was excited to see that Claude had collected at least one of the same Japanese woodblock prints I have.

Oddly enough, I once dated a guy named Larry who looks just like Monet. He was an artist, a photographer. These crazy sort of connections are fascinating, like what happens when writing your thesis. Once you get going, all these little coincidences and factoids start falling in your lap to support your thesis statement. I used to frequent a gallery in Union Square in San Francisco that featured Japanese Woodblock prints. One time, after making some purchases at the end of the gallery's business hours I was out front waiting for a cab. The owner came out to strike up a conversation. He asked me which artists I collected, besides Yoshitoshi, whose work I had just purchased. I told him about a Japanese contemporary artist named Masami Teraoka. The gallery owner said, "Very interesting. Masami Teraoka also buys prints from me. He also collects Yoshitoshi." Another connection. I wonder if Masami likes Monet, gardening and cooking?