Montana Artworking by Cindy Betka

Monet made water lilies famous. What artist that is enamored by his series can’t help but try a water lily piece. Well, here is my take on the scene. These are Montana water lilies with my technique coming to the surface. The first stage I kept more of the contrasting warm colors in the under painting. Next I worked on the designing of the shapes for the composition. With each layer, I worked on bringing out the values. Slowly I worked in the edges. It was a fun piece despite the challenge. No comparison to Monet and it wasn’t meant to be, but I just had to include some of his. Water-Lilies (detail), By Claude Monet, ~1920 Water-Lilies (detail), By Claude Monet, Water-Lily Pond, By Claude Monet, Water-Lilies (detail), By Claude Monet,

I kept looking at this painting from time to time. Finally, I decided what it needed, ducks. Wood ducks are the most colorful ducks I have seen and they fit well into my composition. These life mates are so charming. That also was a title, 'Life Mates', but I went with beachcombing instead. 'Beachcombing',  16" X 20", Oil on wood panel

There has been an outbreak of cabin fever. It’s an epidemic. My symptoms are the doldrums, boredom and listlessness. Any artwork I create reflects this. Regretfully, I even posted the last painting I created where one can clearly see the transference of my moods. The painting was blahhhhhhhh. No longer is it posted; delete, delete. N C Wyeth’s number one rule to his young artist son Andrew was to, ‘keep alive to everything’. I am not adhering to that rule as of late. So, it will be awhile until I am back to ‘alive’ paintings. Meanwhile, my sub-conscience will be incubating creativity. The way I will keep my hand into it is through sketches and capturing wonderful impressions on camera, those ‘alive’ moments.