Alia Zaal in Vetheuil
Artist Residency
Maison Oscar-Claude Monet
Autumn: October- November 2021
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After deciding I was going to do my first plein air session in Vetheuil, I remember sitting on the Seine contemplating the waves and reflections, the ducks, the random swan, the big, long boat transporting sand for some construction for a bigger Paris, the man fishing on his little boat, the trees in the distance, the leaves at my feet…
I didn’t only observe with my bare eyes, I also used the camera on my mobile device, an excellent Leica, supported with artificial intelligence that stabilizes images when objects, forms, compositions are being detected after zooming in into a frame. I used the device to look closely at the surroundings as though I was using binoculars. I followed a swan that suddenly appeared in my frame, I followed her back and forth as though I was looking at a person walking in a distance, I then discovered a painted horizon that was painted at the bottom of the dock that I wouldn’t have seen with my bare eyes.
I captured still images of the steady little waves that moved monotonously after the passing of the long-sand-transporting-boat. I captured that reflection that looked like an image printed difficultly, as though the printer lagged or something. It looks like the noise on TV that doesn’t have enough satellite reception. Somehow, the scene was a hybrid between classical and contemporary, and I liked that.
