I'm a cheapskate, okay?

 

I've decided that I love to paint and that it cost's too much. With this discovery I went to my favorite place (okay, favorite might be a strong word), Deseret Industries, and picked out some nice big fat ugly pictures in pretty rustic frames for five whole dollars and just went nuts and painting over those ugly old pictures. Aaron was out of town on a business training trip all week and it was spring break so I had a lot of time on my hands. Of course I couldn't very well paint my assignment on the very holy spring break, so I did a couple of procrastination paintings instead. The first one just started out as a willy nilly color smash and kind of evolved into looking landscape-esque. I guess I'm not quite comfortable with full on abstract art just yet. The second one I decided to paint my wedding temple, Logan. I have this great picture in my house of it with a pretty flowering bush and some tree's and figured that was as good a subject as any out there. Anyhow, enjoy, I know I did.

Monet - The Master

 

I am taking an introductory oil painting class this semester and it has quickly become an obsession. I have always loved the idea of painting and I have always been terrified of it. Each new day when I pick up a brush I shake in my boots for a few minutes before I get up the courage to just do it. I love it! The most recent project was for us to find a master impressionist and try to copy their work. It is easy to look at a beautiful painting and say to yourself that it would be so easy to create it but the Masters are called that for a reason. I chose Monet partially because he uses color so wonderfully and also because he is one of the few of his time that didn't just love women in their birthday suits. I had a lot of fun doing this piece but it was also way more frustrating than my first painting because I was trying so hard to duplicate this amazing thing. I don't think I could ever be done trying to make it perfect if it weren't for due dates and all that nonsense. I have a much greater appreciation for the amazing impressionist painters out there, new and old. Now enjoy a few quotes from our good friend, Claude Monet.

"People discuss my art and pretend to understand as if it were necessary to understand, when it's simply necessary to love." 

"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment."