Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Virginia Howard (left) and Joy Evans enjoy a tour of oil paintings by Edie Monette following their meal at the Village House and Garden.

Village House features oil paintings

By Shari Kaplan

A childhood spent in picturesque Europe, combined with a love of traveling and art collecting, led San Jose artist Edie Monette to take up painting--just as a hobby--some 25 years ago. It's a hobby she continues to indulge in.

An exhibit of Monette's many oil paintings, featuring some of her favorite subjects, is on display through the end of June at the Village House and Garden Restaurant in Los Gatos. The Village House, a volunteer-run restaurant that benefits Eastfield Ming Quong, exhibits a different artist's works each month. Twenty-five percent of any art sales goes to EMQ, to support its programs for emotionally troubled children, teens and their families.

Born in the rural village of Mackenbach, Germany, Monette says she enjoyed the art classes she took as a youth but took a job in the secretarial field following business college.

After meeting and marrying her husband, who was serving at a U.S. Air Force base in Germany at the time, she traveled widely and began a growing collection of oil paintings purchased in various locations. Monette recalls a friend once commented that if she liked oil paintings so much, why didn't she try her own hand at it?

Monette liked the idea so well that she began taking art classes--studying at a school, an Air Force base and through private lessons; she still takes brush-up lessons to this day.

Although she began painting with brushes, Monette now works almost exclusively with the palette knife. Painting is done with either the tip or the sides of the knife.

"The paintings have way more depth with the palette knife. It makes a big difference to me," she says. Monette's favorite subject matter is landscapes and seascapes: "I just love nature," she says. She also enjoys portraying children, buildings and other subjects.

Some of her outdoor scenes reflect her time in Europe, such as "Alps Dream," in which the high European mountains take on a beautiful mauve hue as they sweep majestically toward a nearly clear sky. A bright river meanders by a rustic house, surrounded by foliage taking on the speckled colors of autumn.

In "Fleeting Time," an abandoned whitewashed barn a thousand miles from nowhere beckons with its open doors. Although the hills behind it appear barren, the cozy barn is surrounded by grasses, little blooming flowers and two stately trees keeping watch on either side of a dirt pathway.

"I feel very, very peaceful--very at peace," Monette says of her emotions when working on paintings. "I feel totally relaxed; it's like my time out."

Closer to home is "Golden Fog," a look at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge covered with fog and clouds in shades of pink, gray, blue and lavender. In the foreground, ocean waves lap at a rocky beach. Bright, windswept scenes of the Monterey coast also find their way into some of Monette's paintings.

The Village House and Garden Restaurant, located at 320 Village Lane, is open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, with lunch served from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. For more information, call 354-1040.

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