Saturday, September 21, 2013

Before & After: Inspired by Monet

Hello!

First of all, OMG, my blog threw up on itself, and a bunch of posts got released that I hadn't intended! I saved them on the wrong date, and my apologies if you got a bunch of 'page not founds'. It was not a pretty thing. ::shudders::

Second, on to the real post for today! This week our theme in my Llama Nails 'Inspired By An Artist' challenge was 'Inspired by Monet'.

This is the big one for me--Monet is my favorite Impressionist, and Impressionism is my favorite type of art, so I guess by the transitive property, that makes Monet my favorite artist. Not that there aren't a bunch of other one giving him quite a run for his money...but he'll always have a special place in my heart. Which makes this one again fun but intimidating. :)

Here is the work I used as my Inspiration, Monet's Saint-George Majeur au crepuscule (San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk):



I went on and on about Impressionism in my Degas post, so all I'll say here is that Impressionism is often about playing with lighting effects. And I figured, what's the most awesome way that nail artists play with lighting effects? Holos, of course!

So, I started out by doing a gradient to capture the sunset rainbow of the painting. I used two holos for the blue and green (Mentaliy Seduce, a Cerulean blue I showed you yesterday; Mentality Charm, a medium moss green holo); for the yellow-orange I used China Glaze Sun Worshipper (a neon), and for the red I used China Glaze Snap My Dragon. I did a very coarse gradient, didn't smooth it too much so it would look like little brush strokes where the color started to blend into each other. Finally, I busted out the acrylic paints, and painted the church in shades of red-blue-purple:



Ah, Venice...









I love the way the holo looks like sunlight reflecting off the sky and water, as it would in an actual sunset, and I love the stippled effect that aaaallllmost looks like it could be brushstrokes. I'm not sure if Monsieur Monet would like it, but I think he'd give me a quick, tiny approving nod for attempting to use my media to mimic the effects in the painting. :)

Thanks for taking a look! I'm also going to link below a post I did a while back that was done in the style of Monet; that manicure was one of the reasons I was so excited to do this particular challenge. :)

Big hugs and much love!
M.

31 comments:

  1. Amazing! I love the technique the colours and the overall look :)

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  2. Wonderful!! LOVE the gradient & the positioning of the isle/main motive on all your nails. Just gorgeous.

    I like Impressionism best, but simply because it is, to me, the easiest to understand, lol; but it's still so complex and powerful.

    (btw, re: your blog having a mind of its own - I was so looking forward seeing all the posts at once, thinking "wow, someone's been busy & productive" .. :)) )

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    1. Thank you thank you! Yes, Impressionism was the wedge that got my foot in the door with respect to non-representational art. And there's still a ton I'm not sure I get yet, lol!

      ROFL about my blog mix-up! I put incomplete posts in my queue and put them out months away so this supposedly doesn't happen. But every now and then I slip and forget to click a different month...sigh...

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  3. Absolutely beautiful! This is my most favorite painting, too. I fell in love with it when I went to an impressionist exhibit in Ft. Worth, TX many years ago.

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    1. Ah, so cool...it was a travelling exhibit to San Francisco that caused me to fall head over heels with Monet, too...and now I seek out his stuff wherever I go. This painting I could just sit and stare at for hours...I love what he did with the colors in it. Vibrant but peaceful at the same time. :)

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  4. That is stunning, it's so beautiful! Great job x My blog threw out all my scheduled posts last week, I almost seized up, sorted now!! x

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  5. Thats so awesome Michelle, you have done a fantastic job, WELL DONE, love it lots!! xx

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  6. I'm in love with these! They're beautiful!

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    1. Thank you so much! I'm going to hate taking them off...:(

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  7. Is it bad that I like them more than the original painting?

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    1. Awww!!! That is pretty much the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me!! <3 <3 <3

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  8. Simply beautiful. You captured the spirit of the painting in your manicure...lovely job! :)

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    1. Thank you! It's funny how you have that elusive quality that either captures it or not when you do something like this, isn't it? No idea how I managed it, but I'll take it. :)

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    1. Thank you so much! I *still* have it on, lol...can't bear to take it off...I just love having a (sort of) Monet on my fingertips...:) <3

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  10. This is stunning, such a beautiful manicure :)

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  11. This is absolutely breathtaking Michelle! It looks like it took forever!

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    1. Thank you! Believe it or not, it wasn't too bad, about half an hour. I think it look longer to clean up the holo particles from the gradient off my fingers, lol!

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  12. This looks amazing! I love the effect of the holo :)

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  13. Wow, this looks completely incredible!

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