The painter Turner, it is said, had himself tied to a mast to observe the violence of a storm at sea. Monet had his own near disaster. Standing on a rock to paint and very involved, he was suddenly swept into the churning sea by a wave. He was a Normandy man and a strong swimmer but his canvases and palette and paints rushed about him in the water. He climbed to safety with a beard tinged with colorful oil paint; one could say that that day Monet was himself a Monet. As today we are waiting for the hurricane to approach New York City, I felt inspired to post one of his paintings of storms! He did not do as many as Turner, though!
