Celebrating Color

The latest news from Carol McIntyre's studio...

Memory Portrait of Ellie – Step 4

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Ellie almost finished but there is something wrong! (click to enlarge)

Ellie’s owner Jane, gave me complete artistic license while painting Ellie’s Memory Portrait – which is a really nice thing to do – and Jane did not want to see the painting as I was painting it. At this point, however, I did send her a digital image – the one you see here – and asked as few questions. It was also important to get an approval from Jane to go ahead with the finishing touches.

From the very beginning, Jane did not want Ellie’s collar and tags to be in the painting but the only photographs I had were with her collar. Hence I tried to paint Ellie’s neck without it and she came out looking like she has a big fat roll under her chin.

Jane was finally able to send me photos of Ellie without her collar and all turned out well, as you will see in the final image.

Ellie needed to be thinned down and a little more pink added here and there. Jane loved Ellie’s eyes, which made me smile. Other people who had wandered through my studio were liking Ellie a lot. (It is always nice to get cheers along the way.)

…to be continued.

The Monet Magnet & a Great Party! – My Last Day in Giverny, France

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On our final day, we had special permission to go into the gardens from 7-8am to paint or take photographs. It was a misty morning, yet beautiful and quiet. There is an area most people do not see that is beyond the small Japanese style bridge near the pond. It is a place where I chose to meditate and to try to process the previous week. I would have liked to have had more time back under the trees that morning because I was sill awestruck by everything.

Gardeners work early in the morning and all year around

You could not help smiling while experiencing the abundance of roses

A quiet spot before the crowds arrive

I did not want to leave this floral fantasy

After walking the entire gardens again, I walked to my favorite place — Monet’s pond.

The occasional simple sign

Water lilies are “sun” flowers. What I mean is that they bloom only when the sun is out. Because it was early in the day and cloudy, they were just gradually opening.

Water lilies slowly waking up to overcast daylight

On my last visit I discovered this billboard hidden under thick trees

Monet’s pond with his house in the background

Someday I would like to see this bridge when the wisteria are in bloom

Is ‘She” refusing to talk to ‘Him?’ 🙂

It was glorious being surround by such beauty!

Lovely subtle pink roses up against Monet’s pink house

Nature’s marvelous patterns

After our early morning excursion, we went back to the Inn for breakfast and then a group critique. It is always fascinating to see the individual creativity of everyone, especially since we were handed the “same” subject matter. I received some helpful feedback regarding my field studies, and then we had the afternoon to ourselves. Packing was the first task at hand, but I could feel the magnet pulling again, so I returned to Monet’s Pond one more time. I loved being the quiet lone photographer amongst the crowds.

After packing it was group photo time, sharing our last meal together and partying! Before we had parted for France, I had learned that Elizabeth Mowry had had a significant birthday, so we conspired via email to give her a surprise party. She was very surprised and appreciative. Our hosts also enjoyed providing extra spirits to help with the celebration.

Inn hosts, Gerard & Stephanie, served up their special brew

Elizabeth thrilled with the surprise!

We even moved a few hips to music!

A fun time was had by all and it was a marvelous exclamation point to our trip to Giverny.

I was up the next morning at 5:30am (I am not familiar with that time of day!), to head off to the airport.

The ‘Lilac Room’ – my room at the Inn

It was a bittersweet farewell to the Inn and to an experience and memories I can cherish for a lifetime.

Thank you for tagging along for the ride. Hopefully, you have enjoyed it and perhaps even felt a few passionate juices within you stir. Where will the next journey take us?

Illegal Behavior While Painting in Monet Gardens! – Day 8 in France

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Breakfast at the Inn with warm croissants (Click photos to enlarge)

Every morning at our Inn we were greeted with fresh croissants, coffee, homemade jams, etc. If the weather cooperated, we ate outside. You are correct, we never went hungry during our entire 9 days. 🙂

Following breakfast, Elizabeth Mowry, an internationally known pastel artist and our instructor/hostess, started a demonstration for us to watch. These demos are always enlightening and an opportunity to learn more about how someone else approaches painting with pastels. Every demonstration opens me to a new technique or nuance.

Pastel painting demonstration by Elizabeth Mowry

As I mentioned, the Inn was surrounded by captivating landscapes and gardens, there were also dogs, cats and two young girls weaving in and out. A delightful addition.

Children and dogs were also a part of our Inn experience

The poppy field was calling me from my previous visit. I was anxious to see if I could paint it. Do you see Monet paintings as you look at this below photograph? Despite a light drizzle most of the afternoon, I had the time of my life painting in this land of Oz!

The mesmerizing poppy field

Fellow artist, Maryam, joined me at the poppy field

Do you see the blue and white flowers amongst the poppies?

My favorite colored rose

A rose garden was just behind where I was painting. Above is one photo from that garden. I love salmon colored roses.

Again, I took a different approach to this field study. As you can see in all of the photographs, greens were in abundance and not that different in tone or color. Since the tune “Follow the Yellow Brick Road,” was ringing in by brain, I decided to create a painting that was child-like, fairyland-like, hence I chose lime greens, purples, pinks and blues for my palette.

My underpainting of my poppy field study (pastel)

Photo taken by a fellow tourist

My favorite comment from one passer-by looking at my painting, was, “N’est pas naturale.” I turned around with a smile and said, “No it is not!” Others told me they loved the colors and an English woman got an art lesson from me. It was one of the best times I have had painting on-site.

Field study of the poppy field

We did not want to leave never-never-land, but the rain was getting heavier and we needed to get back to the Inn. Shortly after re-grouping and getting more paint boards, we were off to our last painting time in Monet’s Gardens.

A part of Monet’s garden that I attempt to paint

Once again the weather goddess allowed us to paint in Monet’s garden unscathed. I thought I would try a garden scene using some of the techniques I had seen Elizabeth demonstrate. It was another failure, or as our positive philosophers like to say, “It was another learning experience” (that I will not reveal).

Ruth & Denise painting at the end of the Grand Allée

This glorious arbor with climbing roses, is called The Grand Allée.  Can you image your wedding here? This alley is chained off to the public at both ends.

Carol committing a garden ‘felony’

I was painting at the other end, it was almost 8pm and time for us to leave. I did not see any garden police around so I decided to it would be great fun to gallop down the alley like I was flying. Ruth caught me in the act of illegal behavior!! 🙂 What great fun! Did Monet ever do this?

Keeping with tradition, I will end this post talking about food and taking you back to our favorite restaurant and server.

We knew our wonderful tour was soon coming to an end

An artistic dessert that tastes just as good!

It was a day with many memories to treasure and remember. One of those days that filled me from head to toe and sent me to sleepland with a smile.

…to be continued.

To the French Countryside, then Back to Monet’s Gardens – Day 6

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Is there an abstract painting in this photo? (Click to enlarge photos)

Do you know what crop this is? I didn’t. It is flax. The dainty blue flowers are wondrous and just wave in the breeze.

All of us were enamored by this field of flax

The delicate flax flower

Monday morning, 4 of us decided to leave the intimate village of Giverny and explore the town of Les Andelys about 40 minutes away. Our first stop was to be the 12th-Century Chateau Gaillard which majestically overlooks Les Andelys above the Seine along with stunning white cliffs. But first, the delicate sky blue flax fields visually captured us and we had to stop.

Lone poppy amongst the wheat

This wheat field was across from the flax field. It was not uncommon to see wild red poppies along the road. They make one smile.

Carol standing in a flax field

View of Chateau Gaillard as we drove toward Les Andelys

Below are my fellow artists painting the Chateau, which is in the process of finally being renovated after centuries of neglect.

Artists painting above the Seine. Chateau Gaillard is to the left of this scene.

My attempts to paint the landscape were, shall we say, abominable. The muse just wasn’t clicking, but it was delightful time and I will always remember the scene.

White cliffs and fields above the town of Les Andelys

We then drove into town (I was also looking for a bank to obtain some Euros), for more painting opportunities. Since my previous attempt had not been at all successful and I knew we would be painting in Monet’s Gardens later that evening, I decided to make an economic contribution to the local shops in Les Andelys. An over stuffed eclectic store provided me with a couple of hats, scarves, gifts to take home and funky jewelry. It was great fun!

Elizabeth Mowry painting with pastels along the Seine in Les Andelys

After a quick power nap (isn’t that an oximoron?), I headed over to Monet’s Gardens with everyone else for our 6-8pm slotted painting time.

The colors in the gardens seemed deeper that evening

Aren’t these pink peonies beautiful?

….but the Lily Pond kept calling me back.

There is something about the water lily that captivates me, and you??

Again, I set my easel up by the pond and tried a different approach to my field study. I have painted “windows” before in my work and decided to try it en plein air for the first time!

Watercolor underpainting for water lily field study

Field study of water lily in pastel

Here is the large purple hat I purchased earlier in the day. A funky stylish hat and I had to buy it because it is PURPLE with a flower!  How could I resist? 🙂

Top view of my French purple hat

If you have been reading these blog posts about my trip to Giverny, how have I usually ended the day? With food of course! The weather cleared up and gave us a lovely dinner outside at the Inn.

During good weather, we ate outside on their patio surrounded by their gardens.

Tomorrow is our ‘official’ field trip day. Where will we go?

…to be continued.

Monet’s Gardens in the Mist & the Impressionists Museum – Giverny, Day 5

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Too elegant for words!

The weather goddess decided that we had had too much lovely summer weather, so we woke up to rain and thunderstorms. Frankly, my psyche needed the break from all of the activity the last 4 days, and I welcomed the change. However, the heavy rains stopped right after breakfast, and someone suggested it would be a great time to take photos at Monet’s Gardens. Off a few of us went!

Lily pond in the mist

Despite the crowds – at times it felt like cattle herding — I had a delightful 2 to 2.5hours in the misty gardens with my camera. People watching and listening was also entertaining.

People from all of the world arrive by the bus loads (click to enlarge any photo)

There were more water lilies than one could imagine!

My uneducated eye counted 6 different pink and white lilies; I am sure there were more. Some of the pads were ruffled and green, others were similar to pancakes and reddish.

This is called a raft of lilies

The quantity of lilies felt like it was time to harvest them, but have you ever seen a lily survive outside of its water pond/lake? This crowd of lilies above seemed thick enough to walk upon!

The large Japanese style bridge in fog

I took many photos like this as well.

Monet’s home is also available to walk through, but no photographs are allowed. I would have loved to have taken a few of his famous yellow and blue kitchen. Photos from the house are permitted. Imagine waking up to this view every morning during the entire gardening season?

View of part of the garden from 2nd floor of Monet's house

Then we all met in the terrace cafe of the relatively new Impressionist’s Museum in Giverny. The rain once again cooperated.

Fellow artists partaking in our 2nd favorite activity!

Irresistible, no?

Content unknown, but plate was clean at end of lunch

Elegantly full, we walked into the Impressionists Museum for another visual feast! Original paintings greeted us and we all enjoyed critiquing them (yes we did!). A favorite activity of mine when viewing original paintings, is to study is the brush strokes and variety thereof. Monet often had various textures within one painting. Experiencing the actual size of an original is also special Unfortunately, no photos of this treat.

Are you exhausted yet? Did I mention the gardens around the museum or the incredible poppy field? More on that later. So I walked back to the inn and decided to paint in their garden. Artistic risk or trying something different was still on my mind, so I attempted to combine the geometric with the organic. It was also the first time I did gestural outlines of the subject. I see potential, what do you think?

Field study of a rose (pastel)

I might have taken a nap, but I cannot remember. I know that the overcast day was a welcomed reprieve.

Dinner was next on the agenda, of course, so off we went to a restaurant that we thoroughly enjoyed and the server was great fun. There was an item on the menu that said something like, “…according to the mood of the chef.” Naturally, the chef came out to meet us with her big grin!

Our table setting before eating

The blurred version of this scene tells an interesting story, don’t you think? (And since you are wondering… no, I did not gain any weight while in France.)

Back to the inn for sleep and wondering what could possibly top these past several days! 🙂

…to be continued.