A huge thanks to Kathryn Schmidt and the editors at Ridgewood Living magazine for this beautiful article about my time as Artist-in-Residence at Claude Monet's estate in Giverny, France. It's been a real adventure over the last few years and I always love sharing my story as an artist and teacher.
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Very cool to see myself in this piece about Monet and Giverny. This is also a great way to remember my time as Artist-in-Residence here in Giverny. When I first arrived in Giverny, I started thinking about ways that I can differentiate my paintings from the iconic views that Monet painted. The last thing I want is to do any Monet-style copycat pictures; I want to do something unique and decided that one way to achieve that is by changing my viewpoint to get a variety of perspectives.
With that in mind, I've been developing this new Japanese bridge painting. The idea came from a sketch that I did as more of a panorama view. I eventually decided to do an oil study, but from the other side of the bridge and with less of a perspective angle. I liked the study and decided that it will work as a larger painting. I did the underdrawing on the final canvas today so that I can begin painting tomorrow morning (with weather cooperating). I don't always do such an elaborate underdrawing, but this bridge has a very specific shape and I need to get the curvature correct before begin the painting. I feel like an architect or designer when I do work like this and it's a change since my process is usually more spontaneous. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the final canvas is fairly large and will take some time to finish. Wish me luck! The weather has been a bit cooler the past few days so it's been easier to be outside painting and moving around. I'm working on a few larger pieces and they've given me real sense of freedom. One of them is an evening scene of the pond which I'm working on in the studio. I did an oil sketch beforehand and I'm usually committed to working en plein air, but the size of this canvas makes it really difficult to manage. The sun is an issue since my umbrella only shades a portion of the canvas; the wind can be a big problem too since a canvas is essentially like a large sail that can catch the wind. I am working on a morning pond scene entirely en plein air because it's small enough that I can handle it. I'm really getting accustomed to these larger sizes and am planning more to come. Some new flowers are being planted in the garden and they're really very colorful. I sketch a lot in the evening and it's great to just sit and appreciate the different shapes and colors. I can recognize many of the varieties, but some are new to me and I've been having fun studying them. Currently on the easel: |
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