Struggling for xmas presents for a loved one? Well, why not try a Claude Monet print for an idea?! Monet is very popular around the world, and his art generally goes down very well as a gift. His natural impressionist style is not too abstract, and not too traditional, making it a great choice. Those who like art but do not follow it so much often prefer prints rather than handmade oil paintings, and we include some of the best below. Art provider Art.com is a company that we have used on MANY occasionsand, to be honest, we have never really had a reason to use anybody else.

Art.com’s service and quality of product is what we appreciate and so feel comfortable displaying their name in this blog. They also have some great prices on prints in time for xmas! At the time we’re in, it really is great to save a little monet here and there!! (Sorry for that pun). Ok, so no more nonsense, just check out the great prints below and click through to see each and their latest prices.

At the time of going to press all products across the whole site are offered at 30% OFF so don’t delay!

When last we were in the same electronic room together, I was eagerly anticipating an inside day of painting during an extremely wet outside day of storm.

The storm won however and I spent a lot of the day outside, dealing with drainage pipes, gutters, wood floors flooding and enjoyably taking a lot of photos. Quan Yin, ever patient in stone in Hanapepe, has had to wait a bit longer on the easel.

The last few days were clean up, tune up and lotsa green waste runs to the dump. And more rain just for spice in the mix.

But today was pretty good, enough sun to remember what that is like. The ever pleasing butterflies were back also, visiting one of their favorites rest spots on the Monarch Migration Hi-way, the crown trees at the 140 House.

Butterflies just love those crown trees. Who can blame them? They eat, and rest and make whoopee then eat some more, rest some more, make more whoopee, lay a few eggs and sionara. Off to somewhere else.

I would wager they’ve got the address of the 140 House and photos posted on Utube for all their buds to find. At least on one of their Facebook sites. As a result of all that whoopeetime there will be soon be a bunch of caterpillars on the crown tree which would now be serving as one giant cafeteria as the guys load up, wrap themselves up and go through the mind-boggling metamorphosis into a butterfly. Very inspiring that little trick of caterpillar to butterfly. Reality TV sure has jumped on that theme.

An item the storm left behind which isn’t going anywhere too soon is one big ass tree that went for a wild ride down the Wailua River and got tossed out on the S turn below the Sanctuary. You woulda had to a been there to really appreciate but I threw in a pic for the non believers. The river just carved itself a new bank during that downpour.

One reward of finally getting inside for a period of time was sorting through my inventory of Kauai photos.
I rediscovered one that had to put in the painting queue after Quan Yin is finished. It is of the first sugar can processing plant on Kauai. It kinda reminds me of something Monet might paint when he got tired of all those waterlilies. Don’t ask me why, it’s just a silly feeling. It is more of an abstract image rather than a historical scene- all buildings and part of the plant but great shapes of cylinders, squares,, semi-circle, angles and such. And not a water lily in site. But somehow I know Claude would approve.

Thanks for taking some lip from me,
Bruce

I could NOT find my cat this morning. It made me really nervous because he’s almost 18 (human) years old and I read that when cats are about to die they hide. So, naturally I freaked out. Turns out he was hiding in my closet napping.

Any hoo, there’s supposed to be a party at my house this weekend… Guess who’s not excited? Me!

Well, I’m about to do some printmaking sketchbook pages and here are some of my inspirations:

Mary Cassatt

Unknown

Toulouse-Lautrec

Claude Monet

It says Gustav Klimt but it's hard for me to believe that.

Obviously I love 19th century art.

I’ve Just decided that I want to have artist of the day posts. DROOL.

Au revoir

We present to you the wonderful works of Claude Monet who was famous for his captivating landscape works. The artists who reproduced his works did an excellent job in capturing that surreal feeling associated with his paintings. If you like his works, let us know and we will do our best to bring in more.

Claude Monet – Seine at Argenteuil

Price: $156

Claude Monet – Our Lady Collegiate Church

Price: $156

Claude Monet – Farm Courtyard in Normandy

Price: $156

Claude Monet – Green Park

Price: $156

Claude Monet – Harbour at Argenteuil

Price: $166

On November 14:

1805  Fanny Mendelssohn, German composer and pianist, was born.

1840  Claude Monet, French painter, was born.

1878  Julie Manet, French painter, was born.

1889 Pioneering female journalist Nellie Bly (aka Elizabeth Cochrane) began a successful attempt to travel around the world in less than 80 days. She completed the trip in seventy-two days.

1908  Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, was born.

1918 Czechoslovakia beccame a republic.

1919  Veronica Lake, American actress, was born.

1922 The BBC began radio service.

1927 Bart Cummings, Australian race horse trainer, was born.

1935  King Hussein of Jordan was born.

1947 P. J. O’Rourke, American writer, was born.

1948  Prince Charles  was born.

1952 The first regular UK singles chart was published by the New Musical Express.

1954 – Condoleezza Rice, former United States Secretary of State, was born.

1959  Paul McGann, British actor, was born.

1969 NASA launched Apollo 12, the second manned mission to the surface of the Moon.

1971 Adam Gilchrist, Australian cricketer, was born.

1973 DPB legislation was introduced in New Zealand.

1973  Princess Anne married Captain Mark Phillips, in Westminster Abbey.

2007 The last direct-current electrical distribution system in the United States is shut down in New York City by Con Edison.

Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

A comment from a friend has encouraged me to write about my deep belief in the connection that painting has to my photography.  Though I am not a painter I am a lover and longtime collector of paintings.  Decades before I had any thought of creating a life in photography, I spent long hours with my nose buried in books about the Masters.  First, Monet, then led by a painter friend I discovered Bonnard and Cezanne and I took off from there.  I collected the finest books I could about painters and museum collections.  Then I began to travel to see shows and collections.  During that time I lived on the East Coast and had easy access to the museums in Washington, Philadelphia, and New York.  Eventually I was able to visit the museums and shows in London, Paris, Rome, Amsterdam and Florence.  Keep in mind….there was still no photography in my life. 

What I was doing, without knowing it, was creating a rich visual library; reference points or a catalog in my mind and in my heart of color, line, form, composition, light, shadow, and feeling.  I was developing a very critical eye for discerning the qualities that allowed one painting to rise up over another.  My favorite paintings are now like old friends.  I visit them and am filled with the comfort and renewed spirit that comes from sitting with a dear friend.  It’s my reassurance that there is beauty in the world to be created.  And so I am not surprised, but truly delighted when I “see” a photograph that brings forth the feeling of a favorite painter.  To be able to say to myself  ”aha…this is what Kahn might have seen”  or “Oh! This is Wyeth’s palette” is gratifying and illuminating.  This visual heritage, this wealth of knowledge  is available to each of us.   As humans and as photographers, our lives are richer when we avail ourselves of this treasure.

Descubre las mejores excursiones para realizar en un día partiendo de la capital del amor.

París – Troyes: 178 km

Troyes es un destino privilegiado de la región de Champagne. En la antigüedad, era la capital de la provincia, y en nuestros días conserva todo el esplendor y la belleza que esa condición le brindó.

Sus edificios, en especial los religiosos, son verdaderas perlas que nos salen al paso durante una caminata por esta ciudad. Las callejuelas estrechas nos invitan a adentrarnos por nuestra cuenta, disfrutando de las hermosas casas restauradas, que no han perdido ni un ápice de su apariencia original.

Mansiones renacentistas, museos para todos los gustos, una catedral de estilo gótico capaz de dejar boquiabierto a cualquiera: estas son algunas de las atracciones que nos esperan en Troyes.

Una de las rutas más transitadas de esta cuidad es la que lleva desde la estación de Troyes hasta su catedral. En el camino, uno se encuentra con numerosas iglesias, entre las cuales destacan la de San Pantaleón, la de Santa Magdalena, la de San Juan au Marché y la Basílica de San Urbano.

En el barrio antiguo de Troyes destaca la Catedral de San Pedro y San Pablo. Fue construida en estilo gótico, con magníficas vidrieras que refractan luces de colores en la nave principal.

Junto a la catedral, se encuentra otro edificio fascinante. El Palacio de los Obispos, que actualmente funciona como el Museo de Arte Moderno, compuesto por la colección privada que incluye trabajos de Degas, Courbet, Matisse, Rodin, entre otros nombres ilustres.

La Abadía de St-Loup está situada al otro lado de la catedral, y es también un museo: el de Bellas Artes. Allí, puede uno descubrir a Watteau, junto a otros muchos pintores franceses.

A la hora de comprar souvenires, el sitio indicado es la rue Émile Zola, y también la rue Champeaux que es una peatonal. Allí pueden adquirirse un sinfín de recuerdos para regresar a casa con obsequios para todos.

Troyes tiene un aeropuerto adonde suelen llegar vuelos interiores operados en su mayoría por compañías francesas, pero con conexión a todas las grandes ciudades franceses. Se trata del Aeropuerto de Troyes Barberey.

Desde París se puede llegar en tren, que sale de Gare de Paris Est, cuesta unos 50€ ida y vuelta y el trayecto es de algo más de una hora.

Descubre aquí su oficina de turismo

Paris – Giverny: 75km

Giverny es un pequeño pueblo perteneciente a Normandía donde Claude Monet nació en 1840 y vivió gran parte de su vida. El pueblo entero se ha erigido como el lugar de culto del pintor impresionista, y mueve cada año a miles de turistas que se acercan allí sólo para conocer de primera mano los espacios que sirvieron de inspiración para grandes obras de Monet, como sus famosos nenúfares o el puente japonés. Los jardines han sido conservados como en sus orígenes, con lo que el visitante puede tener allí la ilusión de estar viviendo metido en un lienzo del artista.

Asimismo se conserva la casa en la que vivió intacta. Es impresionante recorrerla y ver las fotografías de la familia en las mismas estancias que el visitante puede pisar y observar.

Tanto la casa como los jardines están abiertos de martes a domingo de 9:30 de la mañana a 18:30hs.

En el año 1966, uno de los descendientes de Monet decidió donar al gobierno nacional el hogar de su bisabuelo. Desde entonces, sucesivas restauraciones han permitido que la casa esté en óptimas condiciones, y hoy se encuentra a cargo de la Academia de Bellas Artes.

El interior de este lugar guarda la historia y la magia que Monet supo construir en torno a su talento. En su estudio –el primero de todos– numerosas réplicas de sus principales obras de arte, nos obligan a imaginarnos cómo sería el transcurrir de su vida allí. Casi 150 años atrás, el gran artista recibía aquí de sus musas los arrebatos de inspiración que lo coronaron como el gran referente del movimiento Impresionista.

En la primera planta, la habitación de Claude y su esposa, Camille, tiene bellísimas vistas sobre el jardín. Desde allí, los ojos de Monet observarían el mundo a través de su particular visión, capaz de transformarlo en piezas de arte que quedaron y quedarán por siempre en la historia.

Los arcos de metal dispuestos por él conforman una glorieta de rosas muy peculiar, que desprende su aroma e inunda el aire a su alrededor. A través de ellas se extiende el sendero central del parque, que cuenta con numerosas especies plantadas por el artista. El pequeño lago, que inmortalizó en sus pinturas, es un verdadero tesoro de su hogar.

Para llegar a Giverny hay que coger el tren desde la estación de Saint-Lazare Grandes Lignes en París y viajar primero a Vernon, Giverny está a 5Km de Vernon, pero hay unos autobuses cuya frecuencia coincide con la llegada de los trenes que te lleva y te trae por 4€ ida y vuelta.

El trayecto en tren es de 45 minutos y el autobus llega en unos 5 minutos a Giverny.

Para saber más sobre Giverny descubre su oficina de turismo.

Paris – Lille: 220 Km

Lille está un poco más alejada y por lo tanto el billete de tren sale también algo más caro, unos 80€ ida y vuelta. Sin embargo la duración del trayecto es de una hora aproximadamente, porque se viaje en trenes de alta velocidad.

Lille, a veces conocida como Lila en español, es la capital de la región de Paso de Calais, en el norte de Francia. Fue edificada a orillas del río Deule, y se encuentra a escasa distancia de la frontera con Bélgica.

Ir de compras en Lille es una experiencia llena única. La amplia variedad de comercios y tiendas que funcionan allí incluye los más variados tipos de productos. No importa lo que buscamos: lo hallaremos en Lille sin ninguna duda.

La parte antigua de la ciudad es un sitio mágico para recorrer, billetera en mano. Moda, diseño y toda clase de objetos lujosos se exhiben en las tiendas que corren junto a las calles empedradas. Las vidrieras se conjugan con las casas de estilo flamenco, bellísimas y pintorescas.

Las antigüedades y las galerías de arte son protagonistas en esta zona de Lille. Cada domingo por la mañana, no querremos perdernos el mercado que se desarrolla en la Place du Concert. Alimentos, ropa y accesorios se compran y venden en abundancia, en un ambiente festivo que contagia a todos los visitantes.

El centro de Lille es generoso en calles peatonales, que permiten recorrerlas con comodidad. Allí nos encontraremos con el gran palacio de la ciudad, el Furet du Nord, cuyo interior alberga la librería más grande de Europa.

En las cercanías de la estación de tren funciona Euralille, el centro comercial diseñado por Jean Nouvel. Más de cien tiendas, restaurantes y un hipermercado se esconden detrás de su asombrosa estructura futurista.

Quienes se atrevan a regatear, la zona de Wazemmes es multiétnica y está llena de bazares y tiendas de descuentos. Y a la hora de preparar la comida, la Place de la Nouvelle reúne sabores de todas las regiones imaginables del mundo, durante el mercado del domingo por la mañana.

Lille City-tour

Un simpático minibús lleva a los visitantes a recorrer los monumentos más destacados de la ciudad, así como sus fachadas anónimas de interesante arquitectura. Desde las áreas históricas hasta la parte ultramoderna de Lille, los sitios imperdibles se descubren aquí y allá desde la comodidad del vehículo.

Con una guía audiovisual en ocho idiomas –francés, inglés, alemán, holandés, español, italiano, chino y japonés– y aire acondicionado, esta es una opción ideal para aproximarse al conocimiento de la ciudad y de su historia. Después del breve recorrido de 50 minutos, ya estamos listos para soltarnos a caminar las calles de Lille y sus emblemáticos edificios.

• Precio: 10 €. Gratuito presentando el City Pass.
• Todos los días de mayo a octubre, de 10 a 18 hs. y de noviembre a abril hasta las 17 hs.

Antigua Lille

A diferencia del anterior, este itinerario nos conduce a pie entre los monumentos históricos de la ciudad, que componen su herencia cultural junto a la historia y al estilo de vida que representan. El Palais Rihour, la Vieille Bourse, la Catedral de Notre-Dame de la Treille y la Ilot Comtesse, centro del pasado flamenco de Lille.

• Precio: adultos, 9€; menores de 6 años, gratis. Gratuito presentando City Pass.
• Todos los sábados del año, a las 10.30 hs.
• Salida desde la Oficina de Turismo, en Plaza Rihour.

El campanario y el ayuntamiento de la ciudad

Con 104 metros de altura, el campanario de Lille es a la vez su ayuntamiento, y un espléndido edificio de principios del siglo XX. Desde 2005, forma parte del Patrimonio de la Humanidad, y su cima es un sitio ideal para observar Lille desde las alturas, brindando un panorama increíble.

• Sábados y domingos, a las 10.30 y a las 11.30 hs.
• Salida desde la entrada del campanario.
• Duración: 1 hora.
• Entrada: 6 €

Descubre su oficina de turismo

París-Reims: 150 km

La ciudad de Reims está ubicada al noreste de Francia, a 160 kilómetros de París. Es la mayor ciudad de la región de Champaña-Ardenas. Se sitúa en una llanuera en la ribera derecha del río Vesla. Al sur y al oeste la rodea la Montaña de Reims y allí también se hallan los famosos viñedos de Champaña. Esta ciudad, con una turbulenta historia que la llevó a escudarse durante muchos años detrás de murallas colosales, alberga hoy monumentos dignos de admiración y paseos de un esplendor imperdible.

Entre 268 y 278, el interior de la Galia fue saqueado por contingentes de bárbaros que llegaron hasta Hispania. En consecuencia, a finales del siglo III y principios del IV se construyeron vastas murallas alrededor de Reims, sustentadas por los cuatro arcos triunfales. Los arcos se transformaron así en las puertas de acceso a la ciudad. De ellos se conserva hoy en día la Porte de Mars, o Puerta de Marte, que recibió tal nombre por estar emplazada en las cercanías de un templo consagrado al dios Marte. En la actualidad, se sitúa en medio de la Plaza de la República.

A mediados del siglo V, el obispo Nicasio construyó una primera catedral, sobre las antiguas termas galo-romanas. Allí, en el año 498, el obispo Remigio bautizó a Clodoveo I.

En 816 Luis el Piadoso –hijo de Carlomagno– decidió ser consagrado emperador en la ciudad de Reims. El honor otorgado llevó al arzobispo Ebón a iniciar las obras para la construcción de una nueva catedral, que reemplazara el edificio del siglo V. Se emplearon para la edificación las piedras con que se habían constituido las murallas, en un claro signo de la seguridad que caracterizó a esta época. La nueva catedral fue consagrada en 862. Pero los ataques normandos obligaron a restaurar las murallas entre 883 y 887.

Más tarde, durante la Primera Guerra Mundial, Reims sufrió destrozos de gran magnitud. Sólo 60 casas quedaron habitables.

Algunas visitas recomendables son Le Vergeur, la basílica de Saint-Remi, la catedral de Notre-Dame de Reims y el Palacio del Tau, todos ellos piezas arquitectónicas maravillosas y con interesantes propuestas para los visitantes.

El Palais du Tau –francés para Palacio de Tau– era el palacio del Arzobispo de Reims. En los siglos VI y VII una población galorromana aún ocupaba el lugar en el que fue construido. Más tarde se erigió allí un palacio carolingio. El nombre de Tau le fue asignado alrededor del año 1131, y surge del plano del edificio, que sigue la forma de una letra T –tau en el alfabeto griego–. La mayor parte del edificio original hoy en día ya no existe. El sector más antiguo que subsiste en la actualidad es la capilla, de 1207. Fue reconstruido entre 1498 y 1509 en estilo gótico y modificado entre 1671 y 1710 para adquirir su actual apariencia barroca. Fuertemente dañado por el fuego en septiembre de 1914, las reparaciones se hicieron esperar hasta finalizada la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Durante muchos años el palacio fue residencia de los reyes de Francia antes de su coronación, que acontecía en Notre-Dame de Reims. El rey era vestido para el acontecimiento en el palacio, en donde, luego de acaecida la ceremonia, tenía lugar un banquete de celebración. Hoy puede visitarse la Sala del Tau, en donde estos banquetes reales se desarrollaban.

Desde 1972, el edificio alberga un museo que exhibe estatuaria y tapicería de la Catedral de Notre-Dame de Reims, reliquias y otros objetos relacionados con la coronación de los reyes franceses.

En 1991, el Palacio de Tau fue nombrado Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la UNESCO, junto a la catedral y a la Basílica de Saint-Remi. Alrededor de 100 000 visitantes acuden allí por año.

Llegar en tren:

Reims está en el cruce de las líneas lignes Lille – Dijon – Méditerranée y Paris – Charleville – Sedan.
Diariamente hay 12 trenes entre París y Reims, y con el TGV llegar os costará menos de 50 minutos desde París

Conoce su oficina de turismo

Y si deseáis consultar los horarios o reservar un billete, consultad las páginas siguientes de las redes de trenes en París:
www.sncf.com
www.tgvesteuropeen.com

Patricia Watwood- Chrysanthemums
Oil on Canvas, 2007 (link)

Mary Brewster Hazelton
La Japonaise, 1897
Painting – oil on canvas, 88.9 cm x101.6 cm
Private collection

Alice Chittenden (American, 1859-1944)
Chrysanthemums, 1889
Oil on canvas.  Private Collection

Karl Witkowski (American, 1860-1910)
Young Woman with Chrysanthemum
Oil on canvas, 1900 (link)

Claude Monet
Chrysanthemums, 1978

Claude Monet
Chrysanthemums, 1882
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

One of the things that gets me about paintings is the sense of the painter still hanging around. You can almost see the artist dabbing away, limning long strokes, feathering a gradation, taking a sandwich break.

Go as far back as woolly mammoth days, and paintings already have that quality. G. K. Chesterton wrote about the Lascaux cave-paintings:

They were drawings or paintings of animals; and they were drawn or painted not only by a man but by an artist. Under whatever archaic limitations, they showed that love of the long sweeping or the long wavering line which any man who has ever drawn or tried to draw will recognize…

Even highly conventionalized painting like the stuff they where turning out back when Egypt was top of the heap can’t completely sublimate the individual. Sure, professional tomb decorator, Fek-At-Fut, didn’t get to stamp a personal cartouche on his pictograph of Hoptha the Ibis, but you can detect Mr. Fut in his graceful precision, his easy discipline in drawing out the curve in the ibis’s beak, or the arc of Bastet’s feline back. Those lines aren’t just beautiful because of how the creatures look; they’re beautiful because they are how we move.

More recent stuff doesn’t make you work so hard to sense the artist. You see a Van Gogh, you think “ear.” To stand before a boxcar-sized painting by Turner and imagine the eminent Victorian in top hat and tails swabbing away at it with a mop of paint is part of the fun. And can you look at a Renoir, or Pissaro, or anything by everyone’s fave, Claude Monet, and not feel a sort of kinesthetic sympathy that almost makes you raise your own hand in imitation of the artist’s daubing?

That’s why I took the picture of Monet’s signature above . There’s the guy himself. His mark is so his own. At once casual and as formally binding as a signature on an Imperial Fiat. It looks as though M. Monet, finished with the canvas, couldn’t quite bring himself to lay down his palette, but indulged in this one last sequence of graceful gestures to keep the ball rolling a few moments longer.

Fek-At-Fut and Hoptha the Ibis

Addendum: See the entire Monet picture — it’s called The Stroller — by clicking on the photo way at the top, or, if you worry that the energy expended scrolling up the entire page contributes needlessly to Global Warming, thereby dooming the higher life forms on the planet, no problem! Stay right where you are, concerned citizen, and click on the words MONET PAINTED THIS.

By Christianna Giordano, Gettysburg Festival Intern, Class of 2010 

                                                                                                                                                                                                Hunt Slonem is a fascinating Manhattan-based artist known mainly for his exotic and impressionist paintings of birds and other wildlife.  But Slonem’s subjects took a different turn recently, as he began a new series featuring our 16^th President, Abraham Lincoln. Slonem originally began painting First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, who he considered a fashionable beauty for her time, but changed his focus after receiving a message from President Lincoln himself. Slonem, who relies on his regular consultations with his psychic, says that Abraham Lincoln spoke to him directly. Not only did President Lincoln tell Slonem to begin painting his portrait but he also explained that he must begin painting doves and olive branches, a series which Slonem has named “Abraham’s Peace Plan.”

Slonem’s paintings and sculptures are known throughout the world, but he’s also famous for his notorious New York City loft, featuring over a hundred rooms dedicated to his art, his birds and his eccentric lifestyle. One room features dozens of paintings of rabbits (which he began after discovering on a Chinese food menu that he was born in the year of the rabbit).

For a sneak peek into Slonem’s loft and its unconventional rooms, check out this video from CBS This Morning.

Hunt Slonem is certainly a unique artist and Bruce Helander of the Art of the times describes him as “… a rare adorable bird in his own eccentric right, (who) portrays his great love for winged specimens and nature with a charming mix of abstract expressionism, color field attitudes and classic sculpted garden redolent of Claude Monet.”                          

The Gettysburg Festival recently accepted a donation of “Blue Lincoln,” which was part of a Lincoln portrait series exhibited in the June 2009 Festival. “Blue Lincoln” is one of the larger paintings of the series, measuring 4 ½ feet tall and 3 feet wide, valued at $24,000. The Gettysburg Festival plans to donate this magnificent painting to the Borough of Gettysburg in early December. 

Slonem explains the focus on blue and black colors throughout the series, and especially seen in the “Blue Lincoln”, as, “I really can’t say why I paint them this way, except that there was no color photography back then, so I’m thinking of the Daguerreo-types”.

For the month of November, you can stop by the Historic Gettysburg Railroad Station where “Blue Lincoln” will be part of an exhibit on slavery and abolition, coinciding with Dedication Day festivities in Gettysburg.  Admission is free and hours are from 10 to 4 daily.

 For many who have seen Slonem’s Lincoln portraits, mixed feelings most certainly arise. The melancholy colors of blue and black give the first impression that the painting focuses on the tragedy of his early death and the sadness surrounding his memory, but further inspection can lead to other conclusions. Personally, when I see the cross hatching and strong lines of Slonem’s “Blue Lincoln,” as seen in the close-up on the left, it presents President Lincoln in a strong and proud manner, as history proves were two of his enduring traits. What is it about President Lincoln that inspires artists to continue painting him today? Was it his tragic death? Was it is stance against slavery?

We hope you are able to stop by the Gettysburg Railroad Station this November to view this massive painting and reflect upon Abraham Lincoln.  Then, feel free to post your comments and reactions on Slonem’s work and the enduring legacy of President Lincoln.

Claude Monet is a french Impressionist painter born on the 14th November 1840 in Paris. Some of his best known works include Water Lilies and his London Parliament series. Claude Monet is seen as the founder of impressionist painting. Monet was particularly interested in painting nature and many of his paintings of landscapes and seascapes.

Monet particularly loved his garden and water liliy pond of which inspired some of his best known paintings. Monet died of lung cancer on the 5th December 1926, he was aged 86.

Reproduction paintings by Claude Monet can be purchased at Art-Reproductions – Claude Monet.

Not so well known quotes from well known artists. by Bob Kessel

Georgia O’Keeffe by Bob Kessel

Edward Hopper by Bob Kessel

Paul Klee by Bob Kessel

Henri Matisse by Bob Kessel

Pablo Picasso by Bob Kessel

Giorgio deChirico by Bob Kessel

John Singer Sargent by Bob Kessel

Roy Lichtenstein by Bob Kessel

Ben Shahn by Bob Kessel

Claude Monet by Bob Kessel

Su Tung Po by Bob Kessel

Rene Magritte by Bob Kessel

Leonardo da Vinci by Bob Kessel

Vincent Van Gogh by Bob Kessel

Salvador Dali by Bob Kessel

Winslow Homer by Bob Kessel

Peter Paul Rubens

Michelangelo by Bob Kessel

Auguste Renoir by Bob Kessel

Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.

~Claude Monet

The Studio Boat, 1874

Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment

~Claude Monet

I just added three videos of the art works of Claude Monet on YouTube to celebrate my 100th post on Pronk Palisades:

Monet Part 1

Monet Part 2

Monet Part 3

I hope you all enjoy them, as I did making them.

The music is from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 Pastoral.

Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.

~Ludwig van Beethoven

I am following Nature without being able to grasp her, I perhaps owe having becoming a painter to flowers.

~Claude Monet 

Water Lilies, 1915-1917

The Stroll Camille Monet and Her Son, 1875

No one is an artist unless he carries his picture in his head before painting it, and is sure of his method and composition.

~Claude Monet 

Background Articles and Videos

The Impressionists BBC (Part 1)

The Impressionists BBC (Part 2)

The Impressionists BBC (Part 3)

Related Posts on Pronk Paintings

Mary Cassatt–Videos 

Paul Cezanne–Videos

Edgas Degas–Videos

Paul Gauguin–Videos

Winslow Homer–Videos

Edouard Manet–Videos

Claude Monet–Videos

Berthe Morisot–Videos

Camille Pissarro–Videos

Frederick Remington–Videos

Pierre-Auguste Renoir–Videos

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec–Videos

Georges-Pierre Seurat–Videos

Vincent Van Gogh–Videos

Johannes Vermeer–Videos

Art Videos on youtube.com Channel: A PRONK STUDIO VIDEO–Videos

Where does the time go, eh?

But I guess it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that I haven’t been posting to this blog about photography when I haven’t really been taking pictures. But that isn’t completely true. I actually have a pretty large catalogue of unprocessed/edited photos sitting on my computer. I have the intent to boot-up the machine and sit down and go through them all, etc., but I just don’t seem to make it to the chair. I wish I understood why the trepidation. But for now I refuse to get too worked up about it. I figure that like many of my creative moments in life it will come to me when it comes to me and there is no point in pushing it upon myself.

That or I’m simply a lazy sod.

I think I’ll go with lazy sod.

But all this laziness doesn’t mean I haven’t been something of a shutter bug. Please note:

I have found myself making no small use of my somewhat recently acquired iPhone and its camera. My previous mobile blowers also had cameras, but neither (the Motorola RAZR and Palm Centro) were of any particular use for taking pictures that one might wish to share in a forum such as the Internet. But the iPhone does a pretty reasonable job all things considered. And there is a wealth of iPhone apps dedicated to photo editing and I have downloaded a fistful and make good use of each on almost a daily basis. The above picture was captured with the iPhone while I was hiking and then edited using an app named Camera Bag.

A worthwhile moment to mention here, on WordPress, is that I both entered a local photography contest and walked away with second place within the category I entered. I haven’t entered an actual contest until this one popped up so I’m quite surprised and excited that I actually won something! The contest was via Woodland Cemetery in Dayton and winners were announced last weekend on the 11th. I had entered this picture:

It is actually a Photoshop Elements processed picture I took back in February (I think). It’s one of the first pictures I ever fiddled with in Elements, but oddly enough and as much as I liked it, I never posted it to Flickr. Probably part of being a lazy sod, you know? But still….second place. Awesome.

Here is a picture of me, looking rather rumbled and weird, next to my winning entry:

After the winners were announced it became known to me that the cemetery was offering one of those walk-about type things where a guided tour is provided of some of the more important or interesting characters buried within the cemetery. At each of the graves of said folks there is an actor/actress who talks about the person as if they were the dearly deceased. Since I was already there I opted to stick around and take the tour, which lasted about two hours. During this time I snapped some pics with my handy Canon Rebel/400, but also clicked away here and there with the iPhone, thus obtaining this picture:

It is actually a crop of the original (I removed the others on the tour) and I know…I know…he really should be in the left of the picture for a better sense of balance, but this was all done on the fly and from within the crowd of folks. The wasn’t a whole lot of time for getting the best angle, etc. so I’m lucky to have what I have. I made use of the iPhone app Photogene to perform the crop and conversion to something akin to sepia. I’m pleased enough with the results considering all things.

Lastly, the other day I was going through some pictures my cousin had uploaded to Facebook of a day trip she and her son took to some park near where they live. Some of the pictures were taken around the shoreline of a small lake and included lily pads. Lily pads always remind me of Monet, which always reminds me of the work of Impressionists. Wheels slowing clicking I emailed my cousin and asked for a full-sized copy of a particular picture, which included my nephew on a dock, laying, while playing with some of the lily pads in the water. Opened in Photoshop Elements (cuz I don’t have the grown-up version of Photoshop) I played around with it all morning to create an Impressionistic version of the image with the end result being thus:

I actually created two versions and I still haven’t decided which one I prefer, but it was a somewhat fun way to spend a few hours this morning. I say “somewhat fun” because I really didn’t obtain quite the result for which I was looking. Both versions are close, but not quite there and I eventually grew both tired and a bit aggravated as my hoped-for results were alluding me. This might explain why I don’t particularly care to do this sort of photo editing, you know?

Claude Monet, "Water Lilies,"1914-26

Yesterday afternoon, AR and I went to check out the Monet’s Water Lilies exhibit at the MoMA.  The installation consisted of Monet’s later works in the Water Lilies series, including my favorite, a mural-sized triptych (pictured above).  Monet always felt inspired by the Japanese-style pond by his home in Giverny, France and we see this fascination in his late Water Lilies series.  The oversized singe-panel piece of the same water lilies in Monet’s pond is vastly different than the triptych.  This can be attributed to Monet’s interest in capturing the same object in different times of the day and weather, which influenced his impression of such elements as color and lighting.  The exhibit will run through April 12, 2010.- LM

Claude Monet, Camille on Her Death Bed, 1879

“… One day, when I was at the death bed of a woman who had been and still was very dear to me, I caught myself, my eyes fixed on her tragic forehead, in the act of mechanically analysing the succession of appropriate color gradations which death was imposing on her immobile face.  Tones of blue, of yellow, of grey, what have you?  This is the point I had reached.  Certainly it was natural to wish to record the last image of a woman who was departing forever.  But even before I had the idea of setting down the features to which I was so deeply attached, my organism automatically reacted to the color stimuli, and my reflexes caught me up in spite of myself, in an unconscious operation which was the daily course of my life – just like an animal turning his mill.”

While visiting northern France a few years ago, I was inspired by Claude Monet’s garden. It is not the typical French garden with controlled manipulation of nature, but a flurry of texture and color more reminiscent of English landscapes. I gravitate to this type of casual gardening and have created areas in my yard that reflect my experimental attitude toward “all things growing”, more typical of an English garden.

I find that a formal garden design tends to be somewhat restrictive. My rose garden, vegetable beds, and certain “deer resistant areas” are admittedly structured. But the flowerbeds are joyful chaos. Many of the plants in my beds were given to me by friends and neighbors. I plant them where I think they will thrive. In return, they provide color and energy against a subdued natural backdrop.

My coastal garden, nestled between the Monterey pine forests and the Pacific Ocean, does not resemble the type of English garden surrounding the large estates of our neighbors across the Atlantic. My “English” garden is more like gardens surrounding smaller English homes with relaxed perennial borders and an exuberant display of bright flowers. There are paths, and climbing vines, pots with flowers and a garden shed and henhouse that are both quaint and useful.

English gardens delight the eye with a sense of playfulness. Plants can spill over walls and across paths. They surround and climb structures such as arbors, fences, and walls. They have secret sitting areas, a bench or chair in a sunny corner, a large boulder that absorbs heat on sunny days. Mine has a circle of stone benches for conservation and chairs under the apple trees for “sitting a spell”.

English gardens are easy for the amateur gardener to create. They do not need to be color coordinated. English flower gardens offer a wonderful excuse for combining plants. Mixing herbs with roses or placing twig teepees covered in sweet peas in a border for added height is a common practice.

You can add a simple “English flower garden” to your yard by clustering containers brimming with color. For a strong visual impact, place the grouping in a dull corner of your deck. Plant small trees and shrubs in flower borders to add height. English gardens are dynamic so keep in mind, “It’s all an experiment.”

Check out Vault Oil Paintings, who have some highly trained artists, and have provided us with some beautiful oil paintings in recent months, which proudly adorn our office walls!!

Check this link here for specific Monet Paintings, though they offer a large number of other artists too – check their site for more info. We haven’t ordered anything from other artists, so can’t comment on that, but certainly we are happy to recommend them for the Monet paintings that we’ve ordered up to now.

We have used them for Poppies Blooming, and several versions of Monet’s Water Lilies series.

Monet

Monet's Coquelicots

Me

Making Monet Part III

Monet

Monet's Coquelicots

Me