Artist Spotlight

At this point in my life, not much is happening.  I like to put posts on here, but I hardly ever have anything to say.  Most other people blog about their children or work or things like that, but since I don't have children and no one wants to hear pitiful stories about my job, I decided I'd talk about something that I love: art.  Specifically, the artists that create the art.  I love to think about what famous people are like.  I would talk about my favorite artist first, but I have so many favorites that I didn't know where to start.  So I decided to start with the artist who's painting I actually have a reproduction of - Claude Monet. 

I know you never would have guessed, but Monet is French!  Born in Paris in mid-19th Century, he was never one of the starving artists that you hear so much about.  His family was fairly well off and sent him to a private school where he often got in trouble for breaking rules and being somewhat of a rebel.  When he was 15, he was selling caricatures on the streets (which his well-to-do parents did not approve of).  Shortly after Monet's first art show, his mother died and his aunt took over the encouragement of this young man's artistic drive.  Monet studied with many great Impressionists of the time, but he didn't truly find inspiration till he found the works of none other than Edouard Manet.  Manet used a similar style to the one that Monet came to be so famous for.   Both artists painted "en plein air" which basically means they painted outdoors.  This was a big step in art and could only have been made possible by the invention of tubes (like the tubes toothpaste now comes in).

Monet was so particular about the lighting of his pieces, that he would wait until the sun was at a particular spot in the sky and it was even said that he had a ditch dug and himself suspended in the air to make sure he had the perfect angle for his painting.  I think stories like that are so interesting.  Monet became most famous after his painting "Impression: Sunrise", but the reproduction I have (and actually saw in person!) is of "Venice, The Grand Canal". 

Impression: Sunrise

Venice, The Grand Canal

I know most people wouldn't find this very interesting and I don't have many chances to talk about it with people, but I could talk art all day.  I think the thing that grabs me most about the Venice piece is the colors.  They are so peaceful and serene.  This painting isn't about the subject or about the brush strokes, to me it's all about the feeling.  What you go through when you look at it. 

Well, I hope this wasn't too boring to read and if you made it this far, congratulations!  I'll just end by saying that I love this kind of stuff, no matter what other people say.