Recently I was discussing with an enthusiastic group of adults drawing students about really learning to look.   I help them improve their drawings by pointing out subtle details in their reference pictures. I also help with techniques to use to create that look.  One student commented on how amazing things look when you really “see” them.  That is one of the amazing things of learning to draw or paint, it changes how you perceive the world around you !  As the famous sculptor Rodin said once “There is no recipe for improving nature.  The only thing is to see.”

Rodin and Monet were contemporaries and although each worked in a different media, one with stone the other in paint, they both spent lots of time just looking.   Then they were able to translate the world around them into fabulous art work.  Rodin focused on how the figure flows 3-dimensionally through space and Monet tried to capture a moment time and light in his landscapes.

To learn more about Monet you might read a new book by Ross King “Mad Enchantment-Claude Monet and the Painting of the Waterlilies”.  I am currently reading the book and it is fascinating and well written.  I also found a interesting blog about Rodin and Monet.                                                                                                                                               (http://Check this out: https://metmuseum.org/blogs/now-at-the-met/2017/auguste-rodin-claude-monet

So even if  think you are not an artist you can easily start “seeing” like an artist, enjoy the adventure it is all around you!