Super Art Friday- “Monet’s Lillies”

We’ve been learning about Monet this week. 

Here are my two favorite children’s books on Monet:

Linnea in Monet’s Garden is my first pick.  It’s the story of a little girl who travels to France and learns all about Monet’s life and work.  Included are pictures of Monet’s most famous paintings, of course, along with some photographs of his family, home, and gardens.

My second favorite children’s primer on Monet is this one. It has several pages of Monet paintings that are full-page plates.  Easy-to-read sections of text are paired with  paintings that reflect specific times in his life.

I let my budding impressionist pick her paint colors and her brushes…

 

I made a copy of a water-lily painting and cut out a detail from it for her to use as a reference card.

I  encouraged her to look hard at all of the colors Monet used to paint water.

She picked great colors didn’t she?

Definitely frame-worthy!

“At the Louvre”, detail after Degas

Though I don’t attend Hill Country Bible Church, I’m blessed to be on their “Prayer and Creativity” team. Their quarterly exhibits give me a chance to attempt some serious art once in a while. 

I stress *attempt*. 

The first exhibit of the year doesn’t have a particular theme but gives all the artists on the team a chance to show any art project they’ve done in the last year.

 I’m entering a piece I painted inspired by Degas’ “At the Louvre”. I painted a detail of it using my book of Degas prints as a reference, shown here below.

 I *LOVE* this painting. 

I love that it’s one artist drawing another (in this instance it’s Degas drawing Mary Cassatt). 

I love the 1800s ladies’ walking suit Cassatt is wearing. 

 I love that it shows an artist admiring the work of other artists!

First I drew it in pencil.

Lots of tricky lines in this thing! 

I traced my drawing onto tracing paper (for the transfer), and then made a copy of it.

I used my pastel pencils and colored it like a coloring page.  Sometimes I do this to familiarize myself with the shading before I start painting.

I checked it beside the book off and on to see if I was on the right track.

Some of the angles were off, but I decided it was close enough to move on.

I prepped my board with gesso, transferred the image, and started blocking in some areas.

I had it on my kitchen island for almost a month, working a little on it in the evenings. 

And here it is. It’s definitely an improvement on the first painting I entered. haha!

Improvement!! It’s a good thing. 🙂

Cupcake Painting for HCBC Art Exhibit

 

This Friday is the Opening Reception for Hill Country Bible Church’s “Beinvenidos” exhibit.  It is a multi media art exhibit for all ages.  The time is 7-9 pm.  There will be a monoprinting demonstration going on, as well as live music by “Just For You”  jazz trio.  How fun! 

 I am extremely grateful to Dee Day, director of the Prayer and Creativity team at HCBC.  Though this is not the church my family and I attend, she was abundantly gracious in allowing me to participate. 

This yummy cupcake, topped with a pink mountain of glittering buttercream frosting, is my contribution to the exhibit.  It was painted on a 12″X12″ canvas board with acrylics.  

This exhibit is intended as an outreach, and since the opening reception is open to children, I wanted my piece to be especially appealing to the shorter people in the crowd.  The title of this painting is “Sweet Welcome” and the by-line reads, “A sweet treat is welcoming for all ages”. It was fun to work on and I hope I will have the opportunity to participate in future exhibits!

Personally, I can’t wait to see the work of the other artists in the exhibit.  Some have artw0rk in galleries across the state! I hope to see some of you there this Friday evening!