Big Pictures

On Thursday of this week, I head out to central Virginia for two weeks of writing, reading, and thinking -- not necessarily in that order. I have a lot to get done in the next three days, and -- though I know I shouldn't be worrying about this now -- I will be coming back to a lot of the same when the two weeks are done.

The last time I was there, five years ago, among the people I met were two fantastic Brooklyn artists, Rene Lynch (pronounced "Reenie") and her husband, Julian Jackson -- both of them warm, funny, unpretentious people. One of Rene's works (but not this one) now hangs in my bedroom.

Some of Julian's paintings (but not this one) were featured in a charming gay romantic comedy from six years ago, Big Eden. That movie -- which starred Arye Gross as a New York painter who goes home to Montana to care for his grandfather (and whose work looks remarkably like Julian Jackson's) -- was written and directed by Thomas Bezucha, whose second movie turned out to be last year's far less charming The Family Stone, about which I weighed in here.

Check out the recently revamped Web site of another fabulous painter, who lives here in Washington. Two of her paintings (but not this one) also hang in my apartment.