Monday, favorite artist day! Today it's Renoir

Pierre Auguste Renoir. Another impressionist that I dearly love. I get such a good feeling when I see his paintings. They remind me of lazy days with nothing to do. Ice cream socials. Gardens. Lazing beside the water on a hot summer day. Skinny dipping. Sitting under a tree reading a good book. Romance. Sisters.

I love his soft colors, they're even pastel sometimes...but somehow he managed to get amazing contrast, even tho his colors were soft and subtle.

I've had a few of his prints in my house over the years and it seems like I can just stand there and stare at them, almost feeling like I'm falling into them and wanting to be where they were painted. Maybe that's why I have such an affinity for French things. I collect vintage French pottery from Renoir's era and I can hold a piece and my mind tries to conjure up what life was like back then.

Here are a few of my faves.



















I think of my maternal grandmother who was born during about the same time Renoir was painting his lovely works of art. In the 1880's. What a time that must have been!