Below is one of my favorite paintings by Monet. It leaves a lot of questions unanswered, and a lot to the imagination. When I first discovered this painting, I began looking for a lone wolf or a fox out on an errand, and found nothing. It is beautiful in its desolation.
Monet Winter
Environs de HonFleur courtesy of Art.com
A few weeks ago, while visiting Wind River cabin, I lit the fire stove and listened as the rain plopped loudly on the metal roof. It brought to my mind the Monet, so I searched online, found it, then decided to experiment with a new set of watercolor paints I'd just purchased.
I learned that... snow is NOT white!
The most difficult and enlightening lesson that came from this endeavor... snow is NOT white. Snow is difficult to suggest with watercolor paints. It is shadowy, pocked with scrubby bits of stuff, sporadically dirty, and even luminous in places!
My project was doomed for the trashcan, but then I decided to add in a quick, almost childlike, lone wolf. This decision immediately lightened my attitude considerably, and I laughingly acknowleded that I'm certainly no Monet! but the exercise was worthwhile.
I keep my little tribute piece on my office wall. it makes me wonder about what it would be like to sit and paint with Claude Monet, to relish moody winter evenings and ponder about the lone wolf.
THIS is the scan of my watercolor tribute piece to Claude Monet:
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