Years ago, long before I dared to dream of the life I’m now living, I looked at pictures of Claude Monet’s garden in Giverny with a sense of wonder and admiration. The iconic view of the lily pond with its arched Japanese bridge was so perfect it almost seemed unreal.
But one day last September, I was lucky enough to visit the garden in person when I taught a painting workshop in Normandy. And I even had a chance to sketch while I was there!
It wasn’t possible to set up for plein air painting due to the crowds, but my friend Linda and I found an open spot on a bench with a perfect view of the lily pond and spent 20 minutes or so sketching the incredible view.
It felt like something akin to a spiritual experience. Everything faded away, and I was one with Monet! I was drawing the same scene that he had painted so many times from that very same spot. These were the water lilies he had planted and the bridge he had built. I was sketching the same trees and sky. It was such a joy to be in that place and feel a very real connection to one of my artist idols.
Here’s the finished sketch that I started that day by the lily pond…
On the left-hand side of the page, I glued in flowers that I had picked and pressed as I walked around the garden. (Don’t judge! I couldn’t resist.) I love having a little piece of Giverny in my travel journal.
Here’s how the page came together…
I forgot to take a picture of the original line drawing before I added paint, but here’s how the page looked after I painted it back home in the studio.
There were lots of challenges to be had in painting this scene: masses of trees, bushes, and flowers, reflections in the water, and all those lily pads. Even with all the years of watercolor painting I have under my belt, I was intimidated. But I worked on it over the course of several days, one step at a time, and the end result makes me happy.
The trick with the trees was to vary the color to create some separation between them. Some of the greens are darker and bluer, while others are warmer and more olive-y. Others show the beginnings of autumn color. Because I limited my base colors to blue, green, yellow, and burnt sienna, and mixed all the variations from only those four colors, everything looked harmonious and unified in the end.
I masked the lily pads using Pebeo Drawing Gum before I painted the water. After the reflections were all painted, the masking fluid was removed, and I touched in some color. I kept plenty of highlights on them, so they would show up against the water background. Dark shadows on the lower edges also helped to create separation from the surrounding water. It’s all about contrast.
When the sketch was almost finished, I started planning the design of the rest of the page. I needed to figure out where to add the pressed flowers, and I wanted a title somewhere on the sketch.
I found a beautiful calligraphic font that had the elegant feeling I wanted for my title lettering, so I printed out the title in various sizes and cut them out, then tested each one on the page to see how it looked. This helped me decide on the size and placement.
I also arranged a few of the pressed flowers on the page. These preview steps were a big help in visualizing how all the page elements were going to work together.
When I saw how everything looked laid out on the two-page spread, I decided to extend the painting a bit more to the left, to bring it closer to the flowers. I kept that part of the sketch soft and undefined, so it would look as though it were fading away.
These are the products I used to glue the pressed flowers…
Golden High Solid Gel Gloss was used as my glue. It’s a paste-like product that worked well to hold the dimensional flowers to the watercolor paper. After they were glued, I laid a piece of parchment paper over them, closed the sketchbook, and pressed everything under a stack of books overnight while it all dried.
The next day, I brushed a coat of Liquitex Matte Medium over the decoupaged flowers. This acted as a protective layer, and it gave the page a matte finish which matches the rest of the page. You can’t even tell there is any sort of coating over the plant material.
The title lettering was done with watercolor loaded onto a flexible calligraphy nib like this one. The font is Aston Script.
For Monet, his garden was a living canvas where he experimented with color, form, and design. Even today, it continues to embody his passion and creative genius.
The gardens and his paintings were of equal importance to him, inextricably bound to each other, and he once famously said that his garden was his most beautiful masterpiece.
After spending a morning in those lovingly tended gardens, surrounded by acres of flowers, my senses filled with light and color and beauty, I understand now what he meant.
“My heart is forever in Giverny,” he said.
I think a little part of mine is, too.
To read earlier posts about this 2025 France travel journal, check out these links:
