Would you like to revitalize and enrich your life this summer?
For the next several weeks, we will be posting on a daily basis another installment of Through an Artist’s Eyes: Learning to Live Creatively offering you a pathway to art and the vision of the artist. Enabling you to develop your own inner creativity and apply it to the personal cycle of everyday living!
(And if you are familiar with our book, you might find new meaning by rereading it again!)
Special Bonus: Highlights of Monet’s Works of Art
II. THE JOURNEY TO ART
Caption below
Art Walks, part 2
But where do I start, you may ask. When will I ever find the time? How do I incorporate the arts into my busy schedule? In the next chapters, you’ll discover how to take an artistic adventure, whether in your own backyard or a faraway country–not once but every day–if just for a few minutes or an entire afternoon.
You are entering a new universe, and yet it might be as familiar as the end of your street. And that is where we begin–your neighborhood. Have you ever really looked at your neighborhood? Or is it simply in the background? Whether in the city, the suburbs, the town, or the country, do you get a chance to walk around it–the streets, the houses, the trees, and the surroundings in general?
If you do, what does the walk mean to you? Do you actually enjoy it? Or is it more of a chore–fifteen or thirty minutes, even an hour of mandatory exercise? Is it a regular part of your life or an occasional jaunt embarked upon only when you feel like it?
Or you may not even take a walk at all, preferring to stay inside watching TV, working on your computer, or talking or working on your phone.
Whatever your history, why not start anew, as if for the first time? What artists will you find on this venture? What visions will you see?
It only takes a few steps to begin–not strenuous but relaxing, so don’t push, be free. Why not look at the trees, just as thousands before you have–particularly an Impressionist like Monet or the twentieth century American Georgia O’Keeffe? For instance, before you walk, take a look at a couple of Monet landscapes–the woods, in a garden, or along a pathway in the town or countryside. They are easy to find–on your cellphone or the dozens of books on Monet and Impressionists or on the Internet.
Have you ever seen such beauty? Not so much the individuality of each specific tree, but the light sparkling, shimmering, and enveloping the leaves, the branches, the very air you breathe. Even on an overcast day, Monet can guide you to the wonder of the trees–their abundance as well as their height and size. Whether small or large, reaching out to you and arching upward like the vault of a cathedral, or at more of a distance, they still move you with their splendor.
If you live on a city block dominated by concrete rather than green or an arid place with little vegetation, then look closely with the vision of Georgia O’Keeffe, who was often concerned with recreating the essential lines and curves of a solitary tree or at most its few companions. She emphasizes the flow and grace of the branches as well as the depth and range of their colors—not just brown, but white beige or dark gray or muted black. The leaves too–sometimes generalized, mere decorations—but at other times highlighted and viewed close-up, including the pattern of their veins.
COMING NEXT: EDWARD HOPPER & VINCENT VAN GOGH
If you missed any of the installments, Through an Artist’s Eyes: Learning to Live Creatively begins on June 16, 2026!
Special bonus: Highlights of Monet’s Works of Art
Monet: Becoming an Impressionist
Monet: Walking the Fields of Giverny
Monet: A Heaven of Sea and Sky
Georgia O’Keeffe: The Lines and Curves of Tree
https://access-ok.okeeffemuseum.org/object/8594/
Claude Monet, Poppy Field (Giverny), 1890/91, oil on canvas, Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Kimball Collection, Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois
CCO Public Domain Designation
The Art Institute of Chicago does not endorse or approve use of the above image or any of the material on this website. Nor has the Art Institute of Chicago participated in any projects utilizing the said image.
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Copyright 2010: Joan Hart, Museum One, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented including photocopying, recording and information storage and retrieval without permission from the publisher.
ISBN 9780615301884
