Birth of Impressionism and the Musee Marmottan Monet in Paris

Work in Progress: Paris Passy Gate Now the Magic Happens

April 10, 2014 Kim Minichiello

Work in Progress, Paris Passy Gate Watercolor

The block in for this painting Paris Passy Gate is complete and now I’ll move onto the next phase, pushing and pulling value and adding the details. I’m very happy with the initial washes and the texture I was after to convey the patina on this bronze gate. But over all the values are pretty mid-tone. I want to darken areas and lighten areas. That is what I mean by push and pull. I will pull lights out and forward and push darks back. The details I’ll add will be more emphasis on shadows and elements of the design that come after an initial wash. I really love this part of painting, it’s when the magic happens and it starts to come to life!

Work in Progress Paris Passy Gate and Do You Work on More Than One Painting at a Time?

April 4, 2014 Kim Minichiello

The opening for the “Orange Blossom Special” Aril Exhibition at the Winter Garden Art Association was last night and there was a great turn out, wonderful art, crowd, and music! If you live in the area, stop by and see the show, and see what this great new facility in our community has to offer!

Today I thought I would share some progress on Paris Passy Gate. I had started this painting after I had designed the Coral Reef Menu commission for Epcot, while the design was being approved and before the actual paintings for the menus were done. I’m usually a monogamous painter focusing on one at a time. However, this may be the first time I put one aside for a while after completing two other paintings. I tend to get in a groove on one painting and really know the palette of color I’ve worked out and the painting techniques I’m using on a particular piece. Then I don’t over think it too much and just let the intuition kick in.

On this one, with some considerable time apart, I had to get to know it again. In this case, I am so thankful I made some color notes and swatches. So I could go right back to the palette I started with. It sure saved a lot of time.

I may not be making any sense. Artist friends if you would like to comment please feel free. Can you easily work on more than one painting at a time, or are you dedicated to one until it’s finished? Although that’s not to say that, sometimes when I think a piece is finished, a few day, weeks or months may go by and I decide it’s not and tweak it some more.

More Work in Progress of Paris Passy Gate

March 4, 2014 Kim Minichiello

Today I’m sharing some more work in progress photos of one of my latest paintings Paris Passy Gate. The focal point of this piece will be the gate itself which I decided to mask out so I could just do the background and not have to worry about painting around everything.

I’m working on a softer paper which I can work in more textural techniques, but have to be very careful. This paper is not for those who like to glaze multiple layers. The paint moves around very easily if it is re-wet. It’s great for softening edges but it’s more of a get in and get it done process while working on it.

Since I was going to be working on the Coral Reef Menu project for a while I wanted to get the background finished so I could remove the masking. I didn’t want the masking sitting on the paper very long and take the chance of it ruining it or not coming off! It’s happened before. :-(

Sketching the Louvre in the Tuileries & the Japanese Tourists

February 28, 2014 Kim Minichiello

I have been super busy working on the Coral Reef Restaurant menu commission, so I thought I would post another sketch today. This one was done on a day in Paris when the nasty weather had finally broke, (I know some of my readers can relate to nasty weather right now!). The sun had come out and everyone flocked outside to get some sun and fresh air including me!

I headed straight for the Tuileries Gardens, parked myself on a bench, (it was slim pickings) and started to sketch and paint. I had always wanted to do a view of the Louvre and not get too caught up in the details of the building but be very sketchy and insinuate them with value. I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

Just as I was finishing a lovely group of Japanese ladies on a tour stopped and started to gather around me watching me paint. The Japanese tour guide asked me in French if it was OK. (The Japanese are so polite.) I said, “bien sur”, they watched and made comments as I was painting, none of which I could understand. I only know a few words of “tourist Japanese.” The tour guide indicated to the ladies it was time to move on, and translated to me in French, thank you very much for letting them stop and my sketch was beautiful!” For which I replied, “arigatou gozaimasu,” the formal way of saying thank you in Japanese. You had thought I had given them a million yen by their reaction. They were shocked and amazed that I had replied in Japanese! They all giggled, bowed and smiled, thanked me and were on their way.

Little did they know, probably thinking they had happened upon a French woman painting in the gardens, was actually an American who happened to speak French and enough Japanese to make their day. They certainly made mine!

Respite from a Cold Winter Day, Jardin des Serres d'Auteuil, Paris France

January 16, 2014 Kim Minichiello

Here is watercolor sketch I did of the big green house. I like to use some permanent ink with some of my sketches, specifically when it’s architecture. This was not done in the winter time but on a glorious summer day!

We are having a bit of a cold snap here in Florida. Although, I can’t complain compared to the winter weather in the rest of the country! Having lived so many years in Californiaand Florida, I don’t do winter very well. The three times I have lived in Paris the winters were brutal for me. My last time living there in the 16th arrondissement, I found a treasure not far from home, the Jardin des Serres d’Auteuil. It’s on the edge of the Bois de Boulougneand it dates back to 1761 under the reign of Louis XV. It consists of a parterre garden with a huge greenhouse, and aviary, that was open all year round. I read that they used to store the citrus trees from Versailles here in a hot-house during winter.

Many Paris winter days can be cold, damp, and grey. When I needed a tropical fix, I would go and hang out in the “hot- house.” I could pretend I was in some exotic tropical location and all the winter blues would just melt away. It was hard to leave and have the cold air smack you in the face to bring you right back to reality.

Watercolor Sketching at the Musee Zadkine, Paris

October 24, 2013 Kim Minichiello

Watercolor Sketch on Handmade Paper in the Zadkine Garden

One thing about living in Paris, versus just visiting, is you have so much time to explore the city and discover little hidden gems, that you would probably never take the time to see if you were on vacation. One of those is the Musee Zadkine in the 6th arrondissement. This is another location a few of us from the sketch group visited one fall day.

Quick Pen and Ink Sketches of Zadkine Sulptures

It is dedicated to the work of Russian sculpture Ossip Zadkine. It was his former home and studio and was willed to the city of Paris by his wife. It now has over 300 sculptures and various other works and a number of contemporary art exhibits each year.

Watercolor Sketching at the Musee Bourdelle, Paris

October 11, 2013 Kim Minichiello

It’s finally happened! There is a slight crispness in the air. The temperature has been dropping into the 60’s at night. Instead of highs in the 90’s, today it will be in the 80’s!

Here is another sketch from a fall sketch outing to the Musee Bourdelle. This charming museum, tucked away in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, was the home and studio of sculpture Antoine Bourdelle. It gives you the sense of what an artist’s atelier actually looked and felt like in the late 19th century. In the late 1920’s he started to turn his studio into and actual museum and today the museum houses more than 500 of works of sculpture, paintings, and pastels.

Bourdelle was one of the pioneers of 20th century monumental sculpture and was commissioned for works worldwide, including the United States; Washington D.C., Honolulu, Texas, Minnesota, California and Ohio. In 1893 he joinedAugust Rodin as an assistant and became a popular teacher.

This sketch done sitting in the garden, is the second of the day, and is quicker and looser and than the first one I did. When we arrived to tour the museum we had a beautiful, cool, sunny fall day but a few hours later while sketching in the garden the typical gray skies of Paris took over. C'est la vie.

Watercolor Sketch: Paris, Luxembourg Gardens

October 8, 2013 Kim Minichiello

Even though the weather really isn’t feeling quite fall like yet here in Florida, I’m starting to get into an autumnal spirit. I’ve decorated for Halloween and baked a few batches of muffins the last couple of weeks.

I thought I would post today a watercolor sketch I did while living in Paris. This one was done one October morning of the small cafe in the Luxembourg Gardens. I had gone out with a sketching group and was bundled up in a coat, hat and scarf it was so cold. If I had been on my own, I may not have persisted with this one! It was nice towarm up with a nice coffee in the cafe across the street after painting, and admire each other’s sketches. I nice way to spend a beautiful, but cold fall day!