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Keep up with the latest art and adventures from Rene Shoemaker Art!

Paris / Athens / New York / Toronto: Returning Home

In my early twenties, I went to see my sister who lived in upstate New York.

Before I arrived, her daughters asked, “Where does René live, Mama?”

My sister said to them: “René doesn’t have a home.”

Ouch.

Those were during my wandering years.

Athens, GA: 1.Morning mist in the woods of Georgia 2.Sam Sutlive at Jittery Joe's 3.René art in an Athens collector’s home

Where is your home? 

Now I have a home. Or three. Maybe four. It's not that I own houses in all those places, its just that the feeling of 'home' comes to me strongly when I am there.

I happily traveled this past month to three locations:

1. Athens, GA, USA

2. New York City, USA

3. Toronto, Canada

Then back home again to:

4. Aubusson, France

New York, NY: 1.Manhattan rooftop inspiration 2.René art at the Shade Bar in the Village 3.Kate Sutlive in SoHo

What is the sensation of home? 

I felt perfectly at home in each of those locations. I felt the sense of peace that we have when we feel like we belong. Like we have a place there. That we have friends, and relatives, and locations that mean the world to us.

I realized it is perfectly okay to have more than one home.

A place where our dreams are formed and realized.

What place makes you feel really good? How do you share it?

Toronto, Canada: 1.Royal Ontario Museum 2.Downtown Toronto 3.René & Yvonne as twins

I like going away, and I like returning home again.

And why is Paris in the title above, you may ask?

Because that is where it all starts. A day and a night in Paris, a good coffeeshop visit, and walking along the Seine, and visiting my favorite street, rue de Bièvre, on the Left Bank, just across from Notre-Dame.

Comment below, and let me know; where do you feel most at home?

What Do I Mean by ‘A Sense of Place’?


When you’re walking down a dirt road, do you feel calmness and a sense of place?

When you're sitting in nature, a forest or your garden, do you feel grounded with a sense of place?

When you look up at a really tall building in a grand city, do you feel a particular excitement giving you a sense of place?

When you look out over the ocean at the vast horizon, are you connected to the cosmos, and do you feel a sense of your place in it?

When you look up at the wispy clouds in the clear blue sky, are you filled with wonder, and do you feel a sense of awe?

I do.

How can we capture that moment of wonder and awe, and keep it with us?

Art brings that to us.

Art grounds us to our inner senses, our memories, and our sense of wonder. And while creating my artworks, I aim to convey that beautiful sense of awe and wonder with you.

Through my art, I am sharing my curiosity, my sensibility, my awe, and my world view with you.

By sharing my paintings, I share what I have seen, what I have experienced, what I have perceived—can you feel it when you look at them?

Will you come along on this adventure? Can we share this beautiful world of discovery together?

We can share experiences such as...

...discovering a horse stable in the heart of New York City...

...or the mysterious journeys of a bird that walks in the rain in the Deep South.

How about dancing houses perched on a hill in a park, overlooking the church bell tower in a lively French town?

Or an exquisite, quiet lane located in the bustling metropolis of Paris?

Tell me, how would you define "a sense of place"?

I am thankful that we can share these adventures together,

-René

*all the paintings are available for purchase at http://www.reneshoemaker.com/shop-shoemaker-art