Mont Saint-Michel

by Godfrey J. Ellis – 16×20 Acrylic 1994

This painting was based on a photo in the Geo magazine [a kind of National Geographic in French].  Godfrey started the picture while we were still floating on the canals of Alsace-Lorraine in the east of France in the summer of 1994.  The Geo photo was dramatic and I wasn’t sure I could do it justice.  The sunset was the biggest challenge.  I decided to do a wet-on-wet wash of the sky.  That is where the artist wets the canvas thoroughly and then paints the sky with a wet brush.  The result is a blurred melding of the colors.  Our host family, the LeChevalliers, weren’t sure they even liked it.  “It’s a sky from the Apocalypse!” the outspoken Dominique said. 

When I painted in the rigidly realistic black silhouette of Mont St. Michel itself, the contrast was dramatic.  Everyone instantly changed their minds and loved the painting.  It was like a blurry video suddenly coming into focus for the “critics.”  But, back to the painting of the sky.  After doing the wash of the sky, I leaned it against the edge of the boat to dry in the sun.  Along came Spirou, the LeChevallier’s wire-haired terrier with his enthusiastic wiry tail wagging away in doggie happiness.  Before we could stop him, he had wiped off the sky on the right-hand side.  Arghh! The painting seemed ruined because the sky could not be re-washed. 

After thinking about it and amidst the family’s horrified apologies, I thought I still might be able to fix it.  I let it dry thoroughly and then added some clouds to cover the damage.  I wasn’t entirely satisfied, but the LeChevalliers seemed to like it; Robert even thought the clouds improved the painting!  Mamé (the grandmother) liked it so much that we decided to give it to her.  If you look at the photo of Mamé below, you’ll see her holding it – it is dappled in the sunlight shining through the trees.

We liked the Mont St. Michel painting very much.  So, a little later, in the sunny garden of the LeChevallier’s summer cottage of Frichebois in Charente-Maritime, I reproduced a second copy of the painting for us to keep.  That is the one above. I painted it over the next five days in between excursions to the beautiful ancient city of La Rochelle and to lovely little towns in the area.  I even put in clouds in the second copy to make it like the first one.  You may see slight differences in the two versions.  The second version now hangs in our home in Lacey over the fireplace, some 25 years later.

The other two paintings we gave to the LeChevallier family are “The Winding Mountain Path” and “Floating on the Marne-au-Reine” – also in this website.