Joe Rule

Claude Monet is known for the unique impressionist style of his paintings. This is comprised of using bright, saturated, contrasting colors,(depending on the subject) large brush strokes and focusing on the movement of light in a scene. He also tries to capture a moment in time. It's like seeing what someone else is feeling if that person were standing inside the painting. His paintings also somehow evoke emotion in the viewer. It is usually a bittersweet sense—sad, yet wonderful. Some describe it as nostalgia.

I chose to explore his particular style and technique in my piece in the hopes that I could understand a little better what made him the artist that he was and how he observed the world around him. After all, where the brush meets the canvas is where it really happens. (In my case where the pen meets the tablet.) I knew when I started the project that it was going to be difficult, maybe impossible. After all, I was trying to learn something in five or ten hours that Monet perfected over his entire eighty-six years of life. I also knew my medium was going to hurt me. There is inherently more potential for expression in oil paint than there is in pixels. I also ran into problems when I realized that an internet connection is needed to use Adobe Photoshop on the NMU laptops. This made working en plein air impossible. However, after being sufficiently pessimistic, I found to my surprise that I could achieve a certain amount of expression—or rather impression—in my digital painting using focused observation, memory and photographic reference.

Monet uses smaller brush strokes than I originally thought. I started with a large brush, but soon ended up with a blobby mess. Switching to a smaller brush and executing (many) more controlled strokes produced a better result. Different subjects require different types of strokes depending on their mass. I found that when I was painting the rock face, a small, almost point-like stroke was needed to achieve solidity and permanence. When painting the wave troughs, heavier, longer strokes were needed to show fluidity. The white wave crests and the spray from the waves breaking on the rocks were painted with longer, thin brush strokes.

Color is equally, if not more important than brushwork in Monet's paintings. At first glance, they appear as beautiful gradients much like those seen in nature. Once I started trying to duplicate those gradients, I realized that they are actually made of strokes of color wildly different in hue and brightness. I couldn't believe the contrast between each color on the palette. I believe this was the true gift of Monet. Somehow he had the ability to see those individual colors in nature and put then down on the canvas.

I hope to explore Monet's brushwork and color more in the future, both digitally and in oil. My schedule for the winter 2012 semester includes a drawing and painting class. I hope that will afford me the opportunity to continue learning and exploring.