Notes on Painting with My Son

I wanted to share a few notes my youngest son and I took when recently working on an Impressionistic landscape painting together:

Read about the father of Impressionism, Claude Monet, in the book, Monet’s Garden, by Laurence Anholt.
Got out supplies: drop cloth, a few brushes, canvas or thick watercolor paper, acrylic paints, water, palette (paper plate for us.)
Created an underpainting. Cover the canvas or paper in a watered-down single shade and use the paintbrush to sketch in a loose drawing of what you plan to paint.
Mixed colors or choose existing paint colors. We mixed all our colors using the three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue, plus a little white and black.
Started painting the picture! We were working on a mountain landscape. Lots of artists reach a point known as the “messy middle” where they are no loving their painting, but keep going and persevere to the end!
Considered where the light source was in the picture. We were thinking about where the sun was rising from behind the mountains. Based on the light source, we painted in where the brighter spots would be in the landscape, and where the shadows would be.
Add a little signature or initials to the bottom corner. This always reminds me that each work of art was not created by some nameless machine, but by a human hand, and makes me appreciate a painting I see all the more.

To read a little more about Impressionism, read my post here.

Katy Rose 2/19/24 Katy Rose 2/19/24

Painting in France & at Home

Impressionism

Bonjour! The way I often describe this style of painting to my children or the ladies in my art class is this:

Before the invention of the camera, it was important for paintings to be much more realistic, almost like record-keeping. Painstaking detail was used with great technical skill. With the invention of the camera, artists began branching out a bit into new ways of expression. This was, of course, met with much opposition at first and the art of people like Claude Monet was considered bad and unappealing. But Monet liked what he created and kept at it, basically inventing a style that was not realistic, but gave the “impression” of the scene he wanted to convey. His style was loose and free, and not very realistic.

Early on, I created much more realistic art, but I’ve grown over the years to really prefer Impressionism. It’s unique to the artist, stylized, and forgiving.

These are the reasons I love to create this style with my children, and with the women who are new to art in my class.

While it’s a bit more “free” than realism, it still works within boundaries, with attention to perspective, light, color, and contrast.

Monet painting from the streets of Honfleur

Honfleur, France

My husband and I traveled last fall with our friends to this dream-like coastal village of Honfleur, where Monet came to do much of his painting, along with many other Impressionism painters.

From the Normandy tourism website:

“Honfleur’s beauty has long attracted artists, with works of art to be found in the town’s many museums and galleries. Honfleur takes particular pride in its Impressionist roots – Claude Monet’s mentor Eugène Boudin was born in the town, and Monet and his contemporaries would often set up their easels at the Ferme Saint-Siméon on the hill above Honfleur, to capture the beautiful light of the Seine estuary.”

What an idyllic place.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to take an outdoor painting class in this spot with so much art history?