Washington

I flew from L.A. to D.C. yesterday, with a stop in St. Louis. The sky was dense and dark on our way into the Capitol, and as we lowered to the ground, the Pentagon appeared in my window, five hard sides against the sky. The runway was wet; it was raining hard, and there was distant thunder.

Reagan airport reminded me of the airport in Burbank, dated and funky, but also comfortable and unpretentious.

Stepping out onto the curb to wait for a Lyft, grateful for my bright orange raincoat, I was surprised to feel my face, hands and pants dripping and wet. I can’t remember the last time I felt rain. Santa Monica received just a hair over 4 inches of rain between 2020 and 2021. This year so far, I can only remember rain once or twice, and it is almost October.

Pouring, soaking rain felt inconvenient and real, like I had left Disneyland.

A Lyft ride took me to my AirBnB, right across the street from the Supreme Court - and all I could feel looking at the white Neoclassical palace was that the queen was no longer living there.

A walk in the rain to a Trader Joe’s for provisions, a microwaved dinner, and then some sleep.

This morning, waking to more rain, I got ready for a full day at the National Gallery, and my 2:00 appointment in the study room to view 15 objects - drawings, watercolors and a Bierstadt sketchbook - all Hudson River School artists’ works. I walked the mile to the gallery, noticing that police were stationed on just about every corner around the Capitol, next to large signs that read in red letters, STOP.

I spent a few hours looking at the Hudson River School paintings that are on view in the West Building, and then after a quick lunch, I went to the information desk to ask for Caitlyn Braque, curitorial assistant of Modern Prints and Drawings, who would escort me to the study room. We greeted each other with a pandemic elbow-touch, and she lead me down a few hallways, behind a barrier blocking a gallery in the process of being installed, and behind a couple of locked doors…

I am taking a 4:50 am Amtrack train to New York in the morning, and need to sleep, so the details, and pictures, will have to wait until tomorrow…

Up Close

Living in Cole’s Fourth Painting