Apples & Monet

Apples & Monet

6"x8" on canvas mounted on board  $150.

Purchase HERE

Artist Note.

Still having a great time using 

colors from one of  Claude Monet's paintings.
It happened like this...

A friend gave me some apples from her garden

(They were greener when I got them)

What to do? 

Which color harmony did I want?

I painted them Saturday quickly without a set-up

I wanted to go high key 

meaning -

only a small amount of dark below a middle value.

But on Monday, at the guild,

we all worked 

on finding the colors Monet

used in his beautiful painting below.

The Japanese Bridge.

Work on the easel

shows the print in a plastic sleeve.

(top)

After doing an exercise of mixing
then matching the
Monet colors on top of the print,
I was left with really
beautiful colors on my palette.

I started a new water lily painting
(lower left)

then worked on the top of the
apple painting. (lower right.)

I like the colors surrounding the apples
MUCH better.

Thanks to Monet for the inspiration.

Waterlily Pond

Waterlily Pond

6"x 8" oil on raymar panel $150 SOLD

Artist Note
We are still using Monet's color harmonies
as the focus at the guild this month.
In the one above, I have used the
Analogous Harmony of blue and green.

This is painted from a photo I had taken in
 Cloudcroft, NM, but I have a good friend
who has just returned from a trip
to Giverny Water Gardens
and I am excited to see her photos.

It means my series of lily paintings
will get a shot of inspiration
in my painting arm!

Abstracted Landscape plus Monet Inspiration

Cloudy Skies

8X6" oil on Raymar panel $150.

Purchase HERE

Artist Note
In this painting my goal was\
abstracting to only the
main shapes
of what I saw in the landscape.

I used colors from one of
Monet's Landscape themes.
It is a great way to learn how
 he really used a LIMITED palette.
The same few colors mixed
in different proportions
make for an interesting
 harmony.

 Below, left, is another Monet waterlily painting

You can see how I matched the colors 

on the plastic sleeve overlay before

using them in a still life of my own.

Scraped and gone, the painting exists no more
but it was a terrific lesson on the green
because I found it was mixed
from yellow and purple.
Reddish purple and blue purple.

Roses In A Square (click on to go to blog)

Roses In A Square

8"x8" oil on raymar panel  $200.

Purchase HERE

Artist Note.

I am rather pleased with this one.

I feel the new fracturing marks work well 

and I really like the colors.

I came up with the colors from a 

Monet Painting.

I am using his waterlily work for 

 this month's Guild's focus 

which is on Color harmony.

This one is the Analogous harmony

  that is

where you follow the color wheel.

In this case, green, blue,

with a dip into the purple.

Monet's emphasis was on the blues

Mine, the greens.

I had pre-mixed all the colors 

that he used, testing them first

on the plastic sleeve 

 the photo was placed into.

I then used them in this still life.

The proportions of the colors

 are different of course.

His lily colors are my roses

His green tree reflections are my leaves,

and the different blue colors 

are my background. 

His accent of purple is my vase.

Have you used a famous painting 

to give you ideas for

your color harmony?

Waterfall in Woods

Waterfall In Woods.

8"x6" oil on Raymar panel $150.

Purchase HERE

Artist Note

I have been back painting
 landscapes recently

and am once again reminded
of how cool the shadow colors
are in comparison to
the same colors in the sunlight.

The difference between the green

growth in the light

compared to the same color

in the shadow was HUGE!

The blue of sky comes down 

and casts its color over everything.

It is so obvious with water

showing blues in the shadow

Not as easy to see

the same cool cast on the green.
You have to learn to look for it!

I send prayers for everyone 

in the path of Dorian

remembering also 
that animals are voiceless...

they need help too.