Paintersgarden: Water Lily Memories

When I was a young girl I was taken to see an exhibit of famous impressionist paintings and among them was one of Monet's Water lily Paintings.

It affected me profoundly because I'd only seen slick, smooth images of that painting in books. Standing in front of it I was shaken by the sheer size of it.

The next thing to shake me was that when you looked at it up close it had the same lumpy, uneven and thick surface as paintings that I had been stacking out by my dumpsters for years because I thought I was doing it wrong. I used to watch and wonder as people carried them away what they wanted them for or what they'd be doing with them. I guess I still wonder all these years later.

I never attempted to paint water lilies myself because he'd already done so many that the world wasn't likely to need my feeble attempts.

I'm older now and after half a century of being my own sort of Artist I don't really care what anyone thinks and figured I might as well try painting a few waterlilies myself.

This photo shows my second painting I did along with the coffee mug that I had it printed on. I was very happy with the way that the pattern repeats matched up.

Not having the money or materials most people have I started with 4 x 6 inch canvas panels that I thought could be poked in birthday cards etc. as gifts.

Here are a few of my first attempts:

#1. Acrylic paint on 4 x 6 canvas panel