Giverny Series VI - At the Edge of the Lily Pond Under the Bridge

Every year I go to France to recharge my creativity. I take two large suitcases filled with every art supply I might be inspired to use. I usually spend the month before I go organizing all my supplies. It is a time of dreaming and planning, almost as much fun as actually being there. This year I planned a trip to Giverny, the home and garden of Monet. I hadn’t been there for many years, since I studied Interior Design in Paris way back when. As usual Giverny was very crowded, but I had allowed myself lots of time, so I waited out the crowds and got gaps of quiet in between tour buses. It is a truly magical place. I imagined Monet alone in his garden painting the light at the different times of the day and the changing seasons. I was there in October and the trees were changing colour and the reflections in the lily pond were quite mesmerizing. It was a cloudy day, but that added to the beauty as the sun would peek in and out of the clouds and add to the reflections. There was even a brief interlude of a light rain and when the rain stopped and the sun came out everything sparkled like jewels. I visited the gift shop at the end of the day. This was Monet’s studio where he painted his large series of lily pads towards the end of his life. I marvel at how he was able to paint these monumental pieces as it physically strenuous to paint pieces this size. Monet is shown in black and white photographs in front of his paintings with a ladder. For instance the three-panel painting, that is entitled Agapanthus is a total width of 41 feet 11 inches and six and a half feet in height. He painted approximately  250 waterlilies, all in the later years of his life. To say that he was obsessed with his garden is an understatement. 

I took lots of pictures and as soon as I got to Paris and set up my studio space I started to paint while the images were still fresh in my mind and heart. I was able to do a series of ten pieces in the fourteen days I was in Paris. My studio was in a charming 19th century Haussmann apartment building built in the 1850’s.

All the pieces in this series were created using soft pastels. Many of the pastels I used are made by the French company  La Maison du Pastel. They have been making pastels for 300 years. The papers I used are also by French companies—Sennelier founded in 1887, and Clairefontaine.

I hope you enjoy the spirit of these paintings as much as I enjoyed painting them. 

Patricia