Copy of Sargent's Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler

I have a couple little things I want to touch up, but I think I'm actually ready to quit working on this one this time. Not because I think it's a perfect copy, and not because I couldn't go on fixing little things about it for the rest of my life. But because I think there are some major things that could be fixed that would require almost an entire rework of the painting. And I don't think it's worth it. I'd rather start fresh with something new and let this one be what it is--a cooler (color temperature-wise) copy of an incandescent-lit photograph of a painting I've never seen in person ;) The nuance of expression isn't perfect and of course that drives me nuts, but considering my mistake-laden sketchy start (yikes), I think I did just about the best I could without working it to death.

The color. I made a deliberate decision at one point to de-yellow the mix. And I've tried a couple times to warm it up after-the-fact because my teacher wants me to. But it's such a fundamental change to the entire painting--I just can't seem to pull it off without losing the whole thing. I would basically have to paint over every bit of flesh in order to change that, and I guess I just can't summon up the motivation to risk destroying everything I've done on this. I know the color harmony isn't what it could be, but maybe bumping up the warmth just doesn't matter that much to me. This has been some excellent practice, and I think I've learned a lot. And maybe I could just put a warm glaze over it? Maybe? ;)

One thing I've learned is that I want to try out some lead white (but the art store has been out of it the last couple times I've gone in, which is why I haven't yet...). Even when I am trying to match the warm yellow of the skin tones in the photograph, I feel like I can't get it while maintaining the lighter values. Lead white is supposed to be warmer and less opaque. And when I tried to warm up the titanium white, it was so garish. I don't know. Maybe a more experienced paint mixer could pull it off, but I'd like to try the lead for the flesh--that's what Sargent used, after all. I'm a little finicky about toxic pigments in the paint I have around the house since I have little kids, but I'll just have to be careful. Also, oiling out. I guess I was using too much oil in my mix because it was a little overly-sticky for too long. So I need to use a better oiling out mix, which also makes me nervous about the whole fat over lean thing since I was putting too much oil down... I fear that this little copy could possibly end up cracking eventually.

All of this to say, good learning experience. And I'd have to say it's the best painting copy I've done so far (it doesn't have a lot of competition ;)--but let's hope the next one's a lot better :)