The wonderful paintings created by Claude Monet have been a great source of inspiration to me in my development as an artist. He is the artist many people first think of when hearing the term “Impressionist”. A man who was fascinated by the effects of light on his subject matter, who strove to capture the interaction of light and shadow and who painted outside to capture what he saw.
There is a clip on YouTube of Monet painting in his garden at Giverny which he created in the 1890’s.
What struck me most about this clip is the number of times he turned his head from painting to subject and back again – his attention to detail and desire to be accurate are evident.
Looking into this further, I discovered that Monet would have several canvases on the go at the same time, painting for a while on one canvas before it was taken back to the studio and the next one brought out for him to work on. He painted around 250 paintings of waterlilies with 40 being large format.
If in Paris, it is well worth visiting the Musée de l’Orangerie to come face to face with his creations. The size of them, the varying thickness of the paint applied and the subtle changes of colour and tone are so much more jaw dropping than seeing a print or book illustration.
It made me think – how many times have I painted a subject just once? Why do I think “Been there, done that, what’s next?” instead of “Do I REALLY, REALLY look at my subject?” “Do I study the subtleties of tonal value and colour before I start to paint?”
Whilst browsing the internet for art workshops I came across one called “Paint in the style of the Impressionists”. Perfect. I signed up and learnt a great deal. The underlying themes of the workshop were “Look, look and look again” and “Paint what you see rather than what you think you see”. The tutor demonstrated the brushstrokes used by the Impressionists and encouraged us to have a go.
Three oil paintings were started during the workshop and I completed two of them. The two I am sharing with you are paintings of the same waterlily pond but at different times of the day.
The first painting was the lily pond bathed in the warm sunlight of a still, mid-morning in summer. Many greens in warm and cool tones, the contrasting colours of the waterlily flowers and fish. The reflections of the surrounding trees and the sunlight on the water. A mood of warmth and calm over the scene.
The second painting was of the same pond as it appeared in late afternoon. The waterlily pond had a completely different appearance; cooler in tone with blues predominating, pinks somehow more evident and the reflected sunlight appearing to dance as the breeze rippled the surface of the water. The mood had changed completely.
Since completing the workshop, I have not shied away from painting the same subject more than once. Each time, I have tried my utmost to see it with new eyes and without preconceived notions of how it should look, but instead concentrating on trying to capture what it is.
Thank you, Monet, for the inspiration your paintings have given me and for the lessons learnt.
