Painting The Modern Garden

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The Cleveland Museum of Art, in association with the Royal Academy of Arts in London, is staging an exhibit entitled “Painting The Modern Garden: Monet To Matisse.”

As I read from the CMA website and looked at the paintings they had included in the story, I was touched by the beauty, color and light that emanated from the paintings.

Although painted over 100 years ago, these pieces continue to radiate something special and timeless.

Whether you love Impressionism, or you’re just interested in broadening your artistic scope of knowledge, studying the works of the original Impressionists is a colorful and interesting endeavor. By seeing where the roots of Impressionism began and how these artists developed their style, you’ll be able to expand on what you see to develop your own expressions of this enchanting and light-filled painting genre.

Since you probably won’t have a chance to get to the Cleveland Museum of Art’s exhibition, here’s a few interesting books to get you started learning all about the impressionism movement and its originators.

660 Color Paintings Of Claude Monet

660 Color Paintings Of Claude Monet (Part 1) by Jacek Michalak ASIN: B007IUOLPK

This is a picture book and makes no attempt to review or critique the artist’s work. Spanning the years from 1840 to 1926, this e-book includes 660 works from this prolific and much-loved painter. If you want a book with lots of pictures and little text, this book is for you. As a learning tool or simply as a way to enjoy an artist’s work, you’ll return to this book time and time again.

Delphi Complete Works Of Pierre

Delphi Complete Works Of Pierre-Auguste Renoir ASIN: B00SX587N6

With over 1500 images, this book gives a robust and concise overview of this master Impressionist. The works are fully indexed and can be viewed in either chronological or alphabetical order, so it’s easy to find specific paintings.

The book includes many enlarged details, so you can get up close and personal with the paintings. You can also read about both Renoir’s personal and artistic life.

Impressionist Painting For The Landscape

Impressionist Painting For The Landscape: Secrets For Successful Oil Painting by Cindy Salaski ISBN-10: 1440337276

This how-to book is filled with over 80 beautiful, light-filled examples of contemporary impressionism that includes parks, roadways, waterfalls and harbor scenes. You’ll find over 50 lessons and tips for color and movement, light effects, value and brushwork and seven step-by-step demonstrations. This book assumes the student has basic skills like color blending and basic composition skills, but it’s a good addition for every artist’s library.

Impressionist Summers

Impressionist Summers: Frank W. Benson’s North Haven by Faith Andrews Bedford ISBN-10: 0847839060

Frank W. Benson was an American artist who painted in several genres. He favored the work of Claude Monet and incorporated many techniques from the impressionist. He was intrigued with Monet’s brush strokes and color palette, which illustrates reflected light, and he incorporated those into his own American impressionistic style.

With lots of illustrations as well as informative text, this book adds the texture of impressionism as portrayed by an American artist in the second wave of this popular genre.

The Painterly Approach

The Painterly Approach: An Artist’s Guide To Seeing, Painting And Expressing by Bob Rohm ISBN-10: 1581809980

Not strictly a book about impressionism, this how-to book helps you look at the world from a painterly viewpoint and interpret that vision onto canvas.

It covers painting with both a brush and a palette knife and how to combine composition, value and color to create a personal and absorbing scene. With nine fully documented demonstrations, Mr. Rohm explains the distinction between “painterly” and “linear” approaches to creating art.

One thought on “Painting The Modern Garden

  1. Hi! This is actually a general comment, as I could not find a “contact” link. It looks like you’ve done a massive amount of work here, and you deserve kudos for that. But why do you not list color index numbers (I’ve only checked the oil paint section). CI numbers are crucial for many artists in selecting tube colors and comparing across brands, since names are not consistent across brands. I thought your site might be a great alternative to the Color of Art database, which is somewhat difficult to navigate, but without CI numbers it doesn’t allow for meaningful comparisons. Still, I appreciate all the work that must have gone into this. If you decide to add those CI numbers, please email me and when online I’ll start linking to your site in discussions about paint color. Thanks.

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