Favorite Artist

          I can't pick one single artist to call my favorite.  I have been influenced by so many different artists, from Leonardo and Botticelli to Monet and Whistler to Pollock to Dalí.  But if I have to pick one to talk about, I pick Claude Monet.  I love his Impressionist treatment of color and his depiction of natural light.  His work reflects my own reality, in that I can see my surroundings similarly to how he renders his paintings.  I have an eye condition called Amblyopia, where my eyes do not work together and my vision is poor in one eye.  I can see perfectly with both eyes open, but if I close my “good eye,” then the whole world becomes fuzzy and I can only see blocks of color.  Often, I cannot recall imagery in perfect detail, and instead I remember scenes as if they were Impressionist paintings, where only color and form matter.

Houses of Parliament, 1904

Garden in Giverny

          Not only are Monet's paintings gorgeous to look at, they also simply make me happy.  I love all the bright colors he uses, because they make the painting come alive.  There is so much movement present in his paintings, it's as if we can see the sun moving across the sky and feel the wind blowing through the imagery.

The Japanese Bridge