In the Luxembourg Gardens 1909

Ethel Carrick brushed this painting into being, I imagine, in open air, with small marks of colour, light, and figures populating a verdant park. The light is dappled and soft, evoking a palpable sense of atmosphere, but it’s the rhythm of touches that structures everything. I can imagine Carrick in the Luxembourg Gardens with her easel, trying to get down the feeling of life happening all around. She may have wanted to capture the essence of a fleeting moment. I wonder how she decided what to focus on, where to make a quick mark or a more laboured one. The paint appears thin, allowing the texture of the canvas to subtly emerge, which adds another layer of visual interest. See how the dabs of green dance with touches of muted yellows and earth tones? What do you think? Carrick was part of a generation of women artists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who expanded the Impressionist painterly language, and infused it with their own aesthetic vision and interests. I like to think of painting as a long, ongoing conversation, an exchange of visual information and ideas across time, inspiring one another's creativity.