CartaBella

l'Artista Blog

July 25, 2009
by Bonnie Porter
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GIRLS AND THEIR FLOWERS. I’ve noticed that young girls are very responsive to drawing and painting flowers. Girls are drawn to Impressionistic works, perhaps because they sense a bit more freedom of expression.
While they admire photo-realism works of art and “wish” they could execute something life-like and realistic, they find that process tedious and frustrating. There’s a time and place for each of these disciplines.
In my summer art classes we’ve been exploring Impressionism and Expressionism. It brings me great joy to watch them work on their paintings, to hear the stillness of their concentration.

July 25, 2009
by Bonnie Porter
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MORE HYDRANGEAS. I finally learned the secret to drying these mop-head flowers! Selecting and picking them at the end of the season, feeling the petals to make sure they are starting to dry out. These two 5X7 watercolors were my response to the mid-season colors and stage just prior to the drying stage.

July 1, 2009
by Bonnie Porter
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MID-SUMMER. Blue Hydrangeas abound in our area at this time of year. Lazy summer days abound, too, with temperatures over 100 F. and super high humidity.

Forced to linger indoors with books and paints. A lovely combination. Music in the background. A tall glass of ice tea on my watercolor tray.

My neighbor keeps me supplied with bouquets of hydrangeas. Used them for the first day Art Camp. Yesterday I cut a cobalt blue mop-head one from my own yard and used it for a Nature Study. With a full day of solitude on my schedule, I dipped into every tube of blue and yellow paint I could find.

These two paintings are the happy result. Then I found this quote in my Italian “blank book” which has been designated my Art Quotations Notebook: “There is no blue without yellow and without orange.” Vincent van Gogh, post-impressionist Dutch painter, 1853-90. I added that quote to the painting on the left. For the one on the right, I inserted some lines in Italiano pertaining to gardening tips for L’Ortensia (=hydrangeas).

June 20, 2009
by Bonnie Porter
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AMERICAN GIRL Art Camp #1, Day 4

My first American Girl Art Camp was a rich experience for me and the ten lovely young ladies who participated. One highlight of the week was the tableaux we created with my granddaughter, Lauren. The well-known painting was actually exhibited at the HIGH last year: “Young Girl Reading,” by Fragonard (18th century). This master painting was executed during the period of American Girl dolls Felicity and Elizabeth.
I was so impressed with the direct observation studies these young artists executed during the tableaux session. The same giggly little girls could change gears and focus, in concentrated silence, for a serious art study! I loved every minute of this week!

May 9, 2009
by Bonnie Porter
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My rendition of Monet’s Vase of Flowers, c. 1881-82

I have a new appreciation for painters of the Impressionistic style. To better understand Impressionism, I chose to try to reproduce one of my favorite paintings by Monet. It’s a vase of flowers and we saw it in an exhibit at the Yale Museum of Art when we visited there back in the mid-90’s. Even though I used a smaller canvas (mine is a 12 in. square), and acrylic pigments (not oils), I researched the colors he used and prepared my palette with: Viridian, Permanent Green, Scarlett, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow, Titanium White, French Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue.

Brush strokes were the biggest challenge for me. I tried to imagine what it would be like to be painting en plein air, capturing the light and shadows. The Impressionists’ painting style conveys an effortless technique. But I found it exhausting to try to achieve that look! The complexity of shapes and colors required an intensity I rarely experience when I am painting with watercolor.

Reflecting on this experience, I realize that I responded to the way Monet brought the garden “inside” and captured the shimmering light and rhythm of composition so characteristic of his poetic and expressive landscapes.

April 14, 2009
by Bonnie Porter
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“AFTER VAN GOGH”. Study of one his Sunflower paintings I saw in the Neue Pinakothek art museum in Munich last Spring. One important thing I learned from this exercise is that I needed to use yellow pigments closer to the ones Van Gogh used. I wasted a lot of energy, effort and paint trying to mix/find his yellows!