Posted in Art Camp, Flowers, tagged acrylic, Art Class, Blue Ridge Arts Council, Claude Monet, impressionism, Monet, Monet's Lilac Irises on June 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »
“Monet’s Lilac Irises”
Art Camp yesterday had us painting our version of Claude Monet’s , (1840-1926) “Lilac Irises”, painted in 1914-17.
Claude Monet, (1840-1926)
“Lilac Irises”
oil on canvas
32”x36”
Painted in 1914-17
Private Collection
The young artists made terrific renditions of Monet’s work. He would be proud!
Posted in Little Known Facts, Trivia, tagged Claude Monet, Giverny, Monet on November 14, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Self Portrait in His Atelier
Monet (right) in his garden
Born on November 14, 1840 in Paris, France, Claude Monet was a founder of Impressionism and is probably it’s best known artist.
The term “impressionism” came from his painting, Impression Sunrise. He may also be the most prolific of the Impressionist painters producing many plein-air impressionist paintings.
Many people think immediately of Giverny and his garden when thinking of Monet. His water-lily paintings are some of his most famous. Read more about Monet here and see his works.
Posted in Art Camp, tagged acrylic, Art Camp, art lessons, Blue Ridge Arts Council, Claude Monet, daily painter, impressionism, Lady with Umbrella, Landscape, Monet, Virginia Artist on June 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Art Campers with “Monet”
Waiting for Varnish
We wrapped up session 3 of Art Camp with a wonderful Monet painting of the Lady with the Umbrella. We worked on it for two days and these young artists did brilliant job. I am sure their families are excited about the outstanding art that these artists produced this week at Art Camp.
If you have a young artist check out the remaining dates of Art Camp here.
Posted in Art Camp, tagged acrylic, Art Camp, Art Class, art lessons, Blue Ridge Arts Council, Dogs, flowers, impressionism, Landscape, Monet, poppies on June 19, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Art Camp, Ages 5-7 with Monet’s Poppies
We had a great day of Art Camp with the young artists painting Monet’s Poppy Field. We talked about Monet (that they like to call Money) and impressionism and they painted these fabulous paintings. Great job!
This was the first time we have offered camp for this young age group and they were great. How can you resist their happy faces when they show off their art.
The Twins with Framed Blue Dogs
Here are the Grady twins (with Gryffin photo-bombing) with their painting of Blue Dog. They brought it back in for me to frame for them. Wonderful!
Posted in Little Known Facts, Travel, Trivia, tagged impressionism, Landscape, MFA St. Petersburg, Monet, Museum of Fine Art St Petersburg, oil painting, St Petersburg, Travel on February 13, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Monet’s “Road to the Village of Vetheuil, Snow”
Monet’s “Springtime in Giverny”
One of the best things about going to Florida to visit my friend, Linda, was that she loves art. So we visited many art venues while I was there. And I loved every minute. Right before boarding the airplane
to come home yesterday we stopped in at the Museum of Fine Art in St. Petersburg and what a lovely museum they have! There was a nice Monet grouping there. The winter and spring paintings were hung side by side so you got a nice idea of the versatility of his work and how he viewed seasons and color. But the most interesting was the “House of Parliament”, Effects of Fog, oil on canvas, painted in 1904. Monet did 19 canvas of the same size of the Parliament scene. He did them depicting different seasons and times of day. (Click here to see more info on series paintings by Monet.) He started in 1900 painting the scene of Parliament from his hospital room. He painted most of the 19 canvases though in his studio at Giverny changing the colors and tones of canvas to explore different times of day and seasons. This is one way that artists improve is by exploring light and color. Monet was the master!
Posted in Travel, Trivia, tagged impressionism, Landscape, Monet, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC on January 28, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Monet’s Cathedrals
One of the things I like best about going to the National Gallery of Art is that you can learn so very much. For instance, in the Impressionist Gallery that has recently reopened after being remodeled, I came across two of Monet’s Cathedral paintings hanging side-by-side. What a wonderful way to see Monet’s thought process as he explored color and light on canvas. He painted this same scene, Rouen Cathedral, more than thirty times at different times of day and different months of the year in his quest to master color and light. Monet used this learning tool, series paintings, on several subjects including his Water Lilies, Haystacks, Poplars, and The Parliament and it’s always a treat to see several of them displayed together.
Posted in Trivia, tagged Monet, Water Lilies on November 10, 2012| 1 Comment »
Posted in Travel, tagged impressionism, Monet, Museum of Fine Art Boston, Plein Aire, Renoir on May 8, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Monet, Grainstack (Snow Effect), 1891, oil on canvas
Renoir 1841-1919, Girls Picking Flowers in a Meadow, oil on canvas
Renoir, Grand Canal Venice, 1881, oil on canvas
Monet, Grand Canal, Venice,1908, oil on canvas
Monet, Ships in a Harbor, about 1873, oil on canvas
Posted in Travel, tagged impressionism, Monet, Museum of Fine Art Boston, Renoir on May 7, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Claude Monet’s Field of Poppies near Giverny, 1890, oil on canvas.
Of course, one of the favorite galleries I visited at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston recently was the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist. In 1874 a group of young painters including Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cezanne, and Pissarro, organized in Paris an exhibit to demonstrate their independence from traditional painting. They were criticized because much of what was on display was unfinished canvases based on “hasty impressions of nature” and the group was dubbed Impressionists.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Seine at Chatou, 1881, oil on canvas
This Renoir is a great example of this period. This radiant landscape on the Seine just west of Paris shows distinct feathery brushstrokes from long to short, thick to thin. Renoir wrote to a friend at the time of the painting, “I’m struggling with trees in flower, with women and children, and I don’t want to look at anything else.”
This is what happens when painters begin to work outside in “plein-aire”. You begin to see everything differently and can’t wait to get out there and try to capture it on canvas.
Monet’s Poplars at Giverny, 1887, oil on canvas.
Renoir, Rocky Crags at L’Estaque, 1882, oil on canvas
Posted in Travel, tagged Cezanne, Manet, Monet, National Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Pissaro, Washington DC on April 4, 2012| Leave a Comment »
Yesterday I enjoyed a wonderful visit to the National Gallery of Art with some of my students from the Southerlands. There was 13 of us that made the trip to see the Picasso Drawings.
No photography was allowed in that exhibit but this was the entrance poster so at least you can see what it was like. The interesting thing was that there were probably about 50 pieces in the exhibit and probably half or more belonged to private collectors. Really interesting.
After we finished seeing Picasso we wandered to the newly opened gallery of impressionist paintings….some of my favorites.
Paul Cezanne, French painter, 1839-1906. "The Artist's Father, Reading L'Evenement", oil, 1866.
Edouard Manet, French Painter, 1832-1883. "The Railway", oil, 1873.
Manet, "Masked Ball at the Opera", oil, 1873.
More to come tomorrow…
The Studio 