Personal Art Blog

Sharing the lessons I teach at the Artist Guild and the personal discoveries in my art.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

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.

27 comments:

  1. Sill life has motivated so many artists through the centuries, and how fortunate we have been to be able to enjoy their creative output. This lovely work continues on that great tradition, Julie.

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    1. For an experienced “birder” you are knowledgeable about art, David. You must be a Renaissance man!!

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  2. A stunner! Monsieur Monet would definitely approve, Julie:)

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    1. I am sure Monsieur Monet would have not even blinked. So many subtleties are missing from mine... but then if I copied his style and not just his colors then he may have approved. hafta learn to use that linework!

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  3. Such an interesting narrative to this painting's evolution. Even though the initial painting was very lovely, your Monet-inspired changes add another dynamic. The warm background is a perfect counterpoint to those cool greens. Good lesson!

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    1. You called it perfectly, Helene. It is the warm colors vibrating next to the cool ones which I love. I guess color rocks my boat.

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  4. Awesome, what a great exercise! The colors are marvelous:)))

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    1. Thanks Bruce and t is awesome hearing from you. I was wondering if you would be at Ghost Ranch with the Eric Rhoads group this week. Such a fabulous place.

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  5. When you enlarge the photo you realize how 'alive' these apples are, wonderful color choice and movement !

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    1. Hello Jane - thanks for liking my color choices. You have a great eye for color so it means a lot.

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  6. You are truly the artist who paints without fear Julie. Love this color scheme and Monet of course.

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    1. How did you guess...I have "Know NO FEAR" above my easel.
      Hope you are still going great!

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  7. With this lovely warm/cool play of color, you have made these three little green apples monumental in their ability to move and delight us. Unique and uniquely wonderful!

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    1. I feel good reading your encouraging words, Susan, thank you.
      I just read your fabulous post - A Dog and His Woman The painting is great and the story fascinating.

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  8. I like both versions :) one is very warm looking, the other colder :)

    and to answer your question about whether or not i still use coloured pencils, now that I'm done uni I hope to use them again soon since will never stop using them completely. first started using them when I was 13 so, 25 years lol

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  9. What a great exercise Julie... You're amazing!! I absolutely LOVE the first one...The darker background is outstanding....and the colors are wonderful...

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    1. What a lovely comment. Thanks, dear Hilda.
      Color is such a personal preference and we like the similar palette.
      Your dog pastel is rich in beautiful browns.

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  10. Both of them are very good, but those apples come out of the Julie canvas, I have not seen the gardens, if I like many of his works in Paris and I like that painting, I love Impressionism.
    Congratulations.
    Regards.

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    1. We share the love of impressionist colors, Jose . Your new painting has beautiful mixtures of color in the washes .
      Thanks so much for your nice comment.

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  11. Your experiments have given you so much to work with, haven't they? I really like the idea of taking a masterpiece and gleaning the colors used in it for one of your own paintings. I want to try that soon!!

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    1. Hi Carol, I was thinking about you at weekend when I saw a boy who looked just like one of your grandsons. The eldest one. Haircut and color was exactly the same. Boy - you sure nailed that style.
      Yes, the experimenting has set me free.

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  12. Julie Monet is what we need to call you friend. Those apples are so beautiful. You certainly know how to capture those gorgeous impressionistic colors even though the subject is completely different. Have a super day. Hugs!

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    1. Thank you so much, dearest Debbie. The guild classes have been fun for everyone and we all learned so much about color harmony from Monet's waterlily series.

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  13. I love the incredible difference and feel from the original painting and colors you used and then the one using Monet's color harmony. Wow!!! The colors worked so well for a completely different subject than Monet had done.

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    1. I wish I could come up with it all on my own - sign. Thank goodness for other artists to inspire and help me. I found your post on Oyster farming really interesting. Reminded me what a city gal I am even though raised on an big island.

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I love that you are taking the time to comment and thank you for it. I am sure other readers will enjoy them too. If you cannot comment through this format then email me at juliefordoliver@gmail.com
Cheers,
Julie