Let's Paint Water Lilies!
Carlsbad Senior Center
Thursdays • 12:30 - 2:30 • Auditorium
September 19 - October 24*, 2024
* Make up session for anyone who wants to attend will be on Thursday, October 31 - 1230 - 2:30
After a Session 1 presentation on Monet’s water lilies, which will also include examples by other painters, each participant will create their own water lilies oil painting. Everyone will be encouraged to use the Impressionist techniques that were used in Leigh’s previous classes. Although there will be an emphasis on Monet's water lilies, participants will be encouraged to paint in whatever style they wish.
Course Outline
Session 1: Various Approaches to Water Lilies
- Examples by Monet, Leigh & other painters (choose images and styles)
- Leigh's techniques for water lilies
- Undercoat canvases (color choice ideas below)
HOMEWORK (1): Select your image(s) and email Leigh to tell him what it is and if you need copies printed.
HOMEWORK (2): Sketch your composition.
Session 2: Composition & Color Choices
- Sketch composition and plan execution of it
- Palette knife color sketches
- Begin painting (bigger brushes)
Session 3-5: Further development
Session 6: Compete painting
* Make up session for anyone who wants to attend will be on Thursday, October 31 - 1230 - 2:30
Selecting Your Water Lilies Style and Composition
(Click on photos to enlarge)
Examples: Style + Composition = A New Painting
One approach you might take is to choose a style and color palette, such as in a Monet picture. Choose a photograph for composition, and combine the two to create something new and unique. Here are a couple of examples:
Style & Color Palette (Monet)
Photo for Composition
Leigh's Interpretation 2024
You can Choose a Painting Style
Consider these examples of water lilies paintings by various painters. Which style would you like to emulate? You can also find more varieties online by searching for "Water Lilies Paintings" and might add "modern" or "contemporary" to eliminate Monet's examples.
Influenced Monet
Monet had a large collection of Japanese prints, which adorned the walls of his home in Giverny. Here are two of his favorite artists plus an AI-generated image imitating Hokusai.
Monet Water Lilies
Water Lilies by Contemporary Artists
Composition: Photos of Water Lilies
Most of these are Leigh's photos, which you can use for composition ideas. You can also find more varieties online by searching for "Water Lilies photos."
Undercoating Your Canvas
In the earlier classes, we mostly used my light rusty/orange undercoat (aka, ground). For this water lilies class, participants may select any color they prefer for their canvases undercoat. Other good options are light gray with tints of blue or neutral green, beige, or cream. Nonetheless, here's my recipe for my most common undercoat:
* indicates required; "Part" is used instead of a specified amount, because I mix different sized batches depending on how many canvases I am undercoating. All "parts" are approximate and are varied for effect.
5-6 parts Raw Sienna*
1-2 parts Burnt Sienna*
2-3 parts Naples Yellow
1-2 parts Yellow Ochre
1 part Cadmium Yellow
5-10 parts refined Linseed oil*
Mix paint thoroughly and add enough Linseed oil for the paint to be a liquid similar to wall paint.
If I need a lot, I will combine everything into a water-tight jar and shake to mix thoroughly. Apply the liquid in a thin coat, and as the liquid gets used up, add more linseed oil to the thicker base of paint that is at the bottom of the jar.
Choose the (Approximate) Color for Your Undercoat
Class Pages from Previous Classes
This webpage includes photos of paintings done by class participants.
How to Setup Your at Home Studio
Several students have expressed an interest in setting up their own studio at home. For that purpose, I have put together a list of the materials that I use, including paints, brushes, easels, cleaning supplies, and more.
Recent articles about Impressionism
Note: Some may require subscriptions.
– Smithsonian Magazine, "Later in Life, Claude Monet Obsessed Over Water Lilies. His Paintings of Them Were Some of His Greatest Masterpieces" Sept/Oct 2024
– The Guardian, "Mary Cassatt at Work" June 12, 2024
– Christie's Magazine, "Everything you need to know about Impressionism: how a group of rebel artists ‘freed painting’" April 17, 2024
– Christie's Magazine, "150 Years of Impressionism: How a small group of artists changed the way we see" March 14, 2024.
– Christie's Magazine, "'Both Blades Buckled': The Day Edouard Manet Fought a Duel" November 23, 2023
– New Yorker Article: (Manet & Degas) "The Long, Petty Friendship That Changed Art" October 11, 2023
– Washington Post: "That dreamy haze in Monet’s impressionist paintings? Air pollution, study says." January 31, 2023
– National Gallery of Art: "Birth of Impressionism Explored in Exhibition at Musée d’Orsay and National Gallery of Art, Washington" June 13, 2023
– New York Times [subscription]: (Morisot) "The Impressionist Art of Seeing and Being Seen" June 4, 2021
– New York Times: "Under a Monet Painting, Restorers Find New Water Lillies." June 5, 2019