Haystack Painting Process
1. Before starting a Monet Haystack it is important to carefully study his work and the haystack you will be painting. In doing so, take time to observe Monet’s composition, values, colors, painting techniques and brush work. Consider What colors he used as his underpainting. Identify his source of light and the atmosphere or mood is he trying to convey.  Next, think about How Monet harmonized his painting. Take note Where he used broken color and with what colors and where he scumbled and with what colors.
2. Start with either a sketch book or a 5” x 7” sketch canvas board to draw/paint a quick thumbnail sketch and stick to drawing large shapes. Determine 3-4 values, the underpainting color and the colors of Monet’s Haystack and countryside.
3. Move onto an 11x14” canvas and “ink-in” your Haystack, as accurately as possible, using large shapes (use grid for placement accuracy).
4. Paint an Underpainting, using the Broken Color technique, to create the correct colors. Make a mother pile of color and then make satellite piles using warm, cool and complimentary colors. Evaluate if your paintings brush strokes (broken color & scumbling) are effective.
5. Continue painting to build oil paint from lean to fat either wet-on-wet or let dry a bit and continue to add layers using broken color and scumbling techniques.  Harmonize painting as needed by adjusting the color and values.
5. Provide a self-critique and written statement describing the process and/or your unique rendition of Monet’s Haystack. Writing about the art helps to document thoughts, communicate findings and the exploration of new ideas and techniques. ​
 Coca Astey after Claude Monet
“Grainstacks in the Morning-Snow Effect”
1891 25.5” x 39.5” - . Paul Getty Museum-LA
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“This was the first time I have closely studied this impressive collection of Claude Monet's Wheatstacks in its entirety. It was a great exercise both in learning from following the choices made by this great Master Painter and then to submit a second version, exhibiting a more personalized interpretation of this same snowy morning. I learned how through Monet's sensitivity to light he astutely incorporated the effective use of Broken Color and Scumbling techniques to achieve the multiple layering of atmospheric changes, in the light, that moved across his Focal Point. I designed the second painting to reflect a later time, during this wintery day, using paint in High Chroma straight from the tube in order to offset the mostly muted, slightly misty atmospheric environment of the original painting Monet created set within a dewy and wet almost monochromatic winter morning which is currently on display at The Getty Museum in Los Angeles.” -Coca Astey, Artist
 
Jinha Kim after Claude Monet
“Grainstacks- White Frost Effect”
1888-89   25” x 36” -
Hill-Stead Museum Farmington CT
 
 “I enjoyed painting the haystacks. Because of its simple shapes and composition, I was able to focus on the colors, brush strokes and light. The broken color technique helps bring luminous quality to the painting. Sometimes it looks like the painting is lit from inside although that doesn't come across in the photo very well”.- Jinha Kim, Artist

Skill Three

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