Summer Flowers

I attach an early painting of spring flowers by Monet - painted differently from his better known Impressionist. It is quite academically painted with great contrasts of light and dark.

‘Monet is quoted as saying, "I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers." He painted this work in 1864, the first productive year of his career. DESCRIPTION This early work reveal's Monet's fascination with capturing the transitory effects that became the primary focus of his later innovations. Painted with almost scientific accuracy, this still life has a freshness and immediacy derived partly from its composition. Isolated against a dark background, the fully mature peonies, potted hydrangeas, and basketed lilacs spill downward and outward from the geraniums at the rear. At the same time, Monet's energetic brushwork conveys the sparkling play of light on leaves and petals.’ (Cleveland Museum of Art)

I’ve also been good looking at the work of contemporary Still Life painters and I have attached some paintings by the American painters Sarah Lamb, and Lisa Daria Kennedy. The paintings are relatively small with strong tonal contrasts. The texture of the oil paint and some of the paintings is quite opaque set against the thinly painted background. The first is by Lamb and the second and third by Kennedy.