"Quelque chose de Monet"
60x70cm, oil on canvas
At the start, this was going to be an exact copy of Monet's "Belle-Ile, rochers de Port-Goulphar". I discovered this series in Denise Delouche's book: "Monet à Belle-Ile". I'd never read such a thorough analysis of Monet's working methods. She includes photographs of the locations he painted so you can see exactly how he interpreted what he saw.
After all my tiny ACEOs, and after watching a documentary on the American abstract painter, Joan Mitchell, I felt the urge to paint big: Arte Documentary on Joan Mitchell
So I prepared a 60x70cm canvas with some extra gesso (the original Monet is a close 65x81cm), selected large brushes and started this with Cobra water-soluble oil paints. For my initial sketch, I tried not to resort to turps or odorless mineral spirits (which, I've learned, also produce toxic fumes even if you can't smell them) but the Cobra idea didn't work. The paint was still oily when I applied the next layer. So I wiped it away with a cloth and just used regular oil paint, applied as thinly as I could. Later I added more linseed as needed. As I progressed I found I liked the airiness of the unfinished copy so I put the book down and just touched up here and there.
Some notes on Monet's palette:
It's difficult to judge colors from a photograph in a book but I read on line that Monet once revealed his palette: Flake White, Cadmium Yellow, Vermilion, Deep Madder, Cobalt Blue, Emerald Green. Of course, this is a translation which can lead to confusion (ref: Monet by Himself, by Richard Kendall, MacDonald & Co, London, 1989). I'd rather read this in the original because I've learned that the French "Emeraude" is sometimes translated as "Emerald Green" but is in fact "Viridian." Emerald green refers to Paul Veronese green. In any case, the point is that he used a limited palette. Interestingly, he stopped using black paint in 1886, which is the year he painted these boulders in Belle-Ile. I think I tend to mix ultramarine with alizarin to get close to black. But I thought I saw some green in the blacks in the water. Later I was surprised to read painters use green and alizarin to make black. I did that here without knowing. I would like to read "Monet by himself" but the reviews say he doesn't often talk about his technique.*
Working on a canvas nearly the same size as the one Monet used in the field brought me closer to understanding his methods. I could almost feel his concentration and enjoyment, as he strove towards the outer limits of what was then acceptable in the art world and also the urgency of finishing the painting in what must have been very uncomfortable conditions given the wind and ruggedness of the terrain. Wouldn't it be fun to visit Belle-Ile and paint there: Tourist office
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added 9/5/23:
* I've since found a better resource for studying Monet's
paint palette: Roy, A. 'Monet's Palette in the Twentieth Century:
"Water-Lilies" and
"Irises"'. National Gallery Technical Bulletin Vol 28, pp 58–68.
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/technical-bulletin/roy2007
Roy gives you the original French as follows: "Blanc d’argent, jaune cadmium, vermillion, garance foncée, bleu de cobalt, vert émeraude et c’est tout"
As I suspected his translation is: "lead white, cadmium yellow, vermilion, deep madder lake, cobalt blue and viridian". But he adds that this list may not have been accurate.
Monet's paint supplier recalled a different set of colors: "lead white, cobalt
violet light, viridian, fine quality French (synthetic)
ultramarine, vermilion (rarely), a trio of shades of cadmium
yellow (light, dark and lemon-yellow) and another yellow pigment
(outremer jaune citron), probably zinc yellow or a similar
material"
An art dealer looked at his palette and reported "cobalt,
du bleu d’outremer, du violet, du vermillon,
de l’ocre, de l’orange, du vert foncé, un autre vert
pas très clair, du jaune d’ocre, et enfin du jaune
d’outremer. Au milieu, des montagnes de blanc
des sommets neigeux."
In any case, Monet appears to have been annoyed at these questions about his palette, probably thinking an artist could create with whatever colors he had. But I thought I would investigate because I wondered how to best constitute a limited palette of high quality paint given the huge selection of colors available today.
