Art Stuff - Lilies in our pond from my visual diary

I sat down one afternoon alongside a pond full of water that originally was where our water tank was meant to be. The digger struck a spring and was going to fill it all in. No way was I going to let anyone take my future fish pond. So it stayed. My sister gave me some heritage waterlilies which I planted and hoped they would take. A year later there they were growing in the pond and flowering. The first flowers were the ones I drew that day. I'm not very good at plants or water colours for that matter, but I still will sit down and attempt to paint and draw flowers as well as anything else botanical.

The Great Impressionist Claude Monet

My favourite painter of water lilies is of course Claude Monet who had such a wonderful mastery of colour and shape that he could create wonderful pictures of his gardens at Giverny. He was one of the greatest impressionists of his time. One of my favourite subjects when I was at High school was Art History. I'm glad I took it as a subject because I appreciate it more now I am older. I'll be doing more later this summer once the Christmas rush is over and we don't have a farm full of family members. I have a huge family. Lucky for me and my Mum we have lots and lots of room here!

Water-Lilies 1916 Claude Monet
Oil on canvas 150 x 97 cm