Anticipating Monet Show

Painting this picture of water lilies brought back wonderful memories of visiting Claude Monet's home in Giverny. He created his own world with the magnificent flower gardens and enchanting lily pad pond surrounded by willow and poplar trees that shimmer in the sunlight. Monet then spent the last 40 years of his life creating paintings of this private world and the upcoming show "Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature" at the Denver Art Museum will display 120 of his works. In my painting I was fascinated by the dark water and how it shimmered in the sunlight and added movement and rhythm to the composition. To capture this effect I used different mixtures of indigo, perylene green and ultramarine blue with visible brush strokes. For the lily pads I mixed different greens right on the watercolor paper and submerged some of them with a watered down glaze of ultramarine blue. The flower, which I placed on one of the points of the golden mean, is lemon yellow with cobalt violet added for the shadow shapes. The concept of directing the viewers eye always fascinates me and I arranged the lily pads with this in mind. I am waiting with great anticipation to see again how Monet captured this subject in paint and showed the world how one artist can transform the beauty of nature. Don't forget, Art Students League of Denver classes start in September and I am offering; Introduction to Painting in Watercolor, Go Figure: Painting People in Watercolor, and The Puzzle of Painting Landscapes in Watercolor. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton

“Waterlilies are an extension of my life. Without the water the lilies cannot live, as I am without art." Claude Monet