Below is my journey that prompted an art series.
I visited Paris with my husband in 2011 staying in an apartment in the Fourth Quarter district for three weeks. From there we travelled all over the city using their famous Metro train lines, buses and on foot. I immersed myself in all the famous architectural landmarks, Art Galleries, Museums, Cathedrals, Gardens and even a Fashion Show.
The Marmottan Museum showcases the artist MONET and other Impressionists, along with the L’Orangerie Museum exhibiting Monet's strikingly large curved WATERLILY paintings, purposely mounted onto two oval walls.
Paris art highlights
Louvre Museum
I sat and sketched in the Tuilleries Garden as had Monet and visited the Louvre and D’Orsay museums to discover their masterworks and admire their interiors.
Here I am at The Palace of Versailles.
A half hours journey from Paris took us to GIVERNY the village of MONET’s home, studio and his famous gardens with the renowned LILY POND. We sat eating baquettes surrounded by willow trees near the striking PHTHALO-GREEN painted house shutters and curved bridge which feature in his paintings. This is my drawing from that memorable day.
On our return to Australia we holidayed in the Pilbara. I visited the MILLSTREAM HOMESTEAD to sketch THEIR WATER LILIES, and determined that they were no less famous than those in MONET’S garden and worthy of an audience, albeit from an Australian artist’s perspective.
The Lilies then became the catalyst for this series MONET MEETS MILLSTREAM, realising that all water lilies look alike with the difference being the colour of the water reflection; green in MONET’s paintings due to the surrounding tall trees; A BLUE reflection in Australia because of our clear skies. Also, the stems of our lily pads are black not green.
I have introduced French and English Text within an abstract format to my paintings to illustrate the region-variations, whilst retaining the similarities.
While painting a large painting called MONET REVEALED featuring green water lilies and French text as a location marker, to my astonishment, incidentally exposed a mysterious face. I would like to believe it is of the master, himself.
NB. The quality of a canvas is important for it longevity and preservation of a painting.
I use the best available canvas, only Belgian linen is superior.
I also make my own frames and stretch the canvas.
Monet meets Millstream series
The painting series ‘Monet Meets Millstream’ is twelve medium and large scale paintings, oil on canvas, and one set of 5 paintings on denim jeans. This series explores the theme of water lilies in Western Australia and Monet’s garden in France. Text has been introduced into some of the paintings to denote the different countries.
Monet meets Millstream
Japanese Bridge Monet's Garden
Two paintings of the Monet meets Millstream series share a Christian reference.
1. Pillars of Fire is inspired by The Exodus of the Israelites into the desert, drawing a similarity to the Australian desert.
2. The Wordless Book series (WBS) has a recurrent theme which I have consistently utilised throughout my art career; it is where five colours represent the Bible message. GREEN for the garden of Eden; BLACK for man’s sin; RED for the Blood of Jesus who washes us as WHITE as snow; and GOLD for the streets in heaven. Denim is used as a canvas to represent humanity in the gospel story.
THE OPENING OF MONET MEETS MILLSTREAM PAINTING SERIES
The exhibition was held at the ACDC Art Gallery in Geraldton, Western Australia in 2012. It was a group exhibition with Marie Mack and Fran Mack.
