Sargent copy - second pass

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Well, it was a wild and crazy night here ringing in the new year with my brushes and paints, ha. I don't know about this copy. It's sort of atrocious in my eyes, but I'm going ahead and calling it quits here. I guess I'm glad I did it. It probably wasn't a waste of time. But I would like to have done it better. I expended so much effort trying to correct the drawing (which still isn't great) after that first go, that other aspects of the painting became sort of an afterthought.

I'm sure I learned a few things in the process--always start with a good drawing! I should have spent more time really getting the drawing right in a simple way. But all that paint is just so distracting ;) Also, something very small here, but the whites of the eyes are much closer to flesh tone than white. And just spending some time mixing flesh tones and putting them up on canvas is helpful, even if I did a pretty crude job of it. I haven't painted much flesh up to this point, and I'll keep trying.

And let's end with a Solomon J. Solomon quote regarding copying:

"We shall not necessarily paint Titians because of this knowledge [gained from copying], but in making copies of his works such knowledge, as far as it goes, is indispensable. This applies equally to the copying of works of any master whose method has been handed on to us."




Comments

  1. Brock Alius ArtJanuary 2, 2017 at 10:43 PM

    Don't quit. Repaint until you can't see anything wrong. It's close to being a good copy. A good start. Soften out your edges at the end of the session in areas you didn't get right, or scrape it out. If you can't tackle everything each session then learn how to paint piece by piece, paint an eye one session then an ear. Understand how paint sinks in, how to correct it and how you can paint area by area and not have it be broken or patchy. Scrub a small amount of oil into the areas you want to work on, when the paint is dry enough to not be disturbed, this is called a couche, it serves to oil out the dull dry spots and provide a easier working surface to get better transitions. More pink in the chest. Move the eyes to the right a bit. More form in the chin.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brock Alius ArtJanuary 2, 2017 at 10:47 PM

    Wipe the excess oil off after a few minutes.

    ReplyDelete

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