Oops, it's almost Thanksgiving. Blame the Masters of Impressionism!

Oops.  I let more than a week pass since my last post and suddenly realized that it is almost Thanksgiving. Well, I have a good excuse.  I was working with Masters of Impressionism on honing my painting skills.   I mean that I take lessons from those long-dead artists from time to time to increase my own abilities and fine tune my eye for color.

First, there is Claude Monet.   He and I worked on a painting of the Lightner Museum (located in St. Augustine, Florida).  Monet did a series of wonderful paintings focused on hourly views of the Rouen Cathedral in Paris, France in the late 1800's.  I decided that I had much to learn from his series and applied his ideas to the Lightner Museum.

Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral

 

That was Monet's great piece of art (one of many).  I used that painting as inspiration for my favorite view of the Lighter Museum tower.  I focused on complimentary colors of purple, blue, yellow and orange to create a shimmer of sunlight and shadow.  I also tried to lose the hard lines of the building by softening the edges with color shifts rather than hard line.  You know, that "fuzzy" look that the greatest impressionist images have....

 

 Lightner Museum, Mona Vivar, acrylic on panel

 



Well it's not Monet, but I learned a lot just imagining he was by the easel urging me along.  I really did lose track of time.  I had a great experience.

Next post will explore Van Gogh's techniques.