Observational Painting
Again, a couple of charcoal heads from a historical painting: a self-portrait by the Polish painter Anna Bilinska-Bogdanovich (1857-1893) I admire the fearless directness of her self-portrait. This artist died of a heart condition at 36. She was best known for her portraits.
I adore the roof at my studio with its wonderful jumble of compressed urban & working waterfront views. The air is fresh, the gulls hovering and the space is endless. There are bridges, junkyards, freighters, church spires, roof decks and Boston three deckers. Toss in the new casino, the wind turbine and a dramatically changing sky, and it’s all just too much for me. This will be wiped down – lol!
Having a brilliant violin-making woodworker fix the wobbly leg of my dining room chair seems like a horrible waste of talent, but Thanks Dave! – here’s the painting you’ve always wanted!
I’ll have paintings at the StoveFactory Gallery this weekend – the reception is Friday 4/5 from 6-9pm and gallery hours on Saturday & Sunday from 11-5pm. I’ll be gallery sitting on Sunday from 3-5pm. Please stop by.
The homework from week 10 – colors are a better match than last week, the drawing not so much. One of the challenges with the use of historical paintings to recreate in these exercises is they are all about subtle techniques and shading; seems simpler to do with a live model lit in the studio.
Objective: Using a tool too crude for detail or nuance, this exercise frees the painter to spend more time mixing the colors at the same time discovering how much can be left out.
Like the previous post – this is a palette knife painting on a 6×6 carton board. In class we always have two models – for homework, if no model is available, we can use paintings from history. This is a self-portrait by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Parisian painter of Marie Antoinette and survivor of the revolution.
There are times when painting with a palette knife is really satisfying, and tonight, when with the last strokes I added the cheeks hinting of rose, I felt like I did it right. Enjoy your week everyone!
The details: 6×6 inch oil paint on carton board, applying paint only with a couple palette knives. Just yummy.
This challenge? Homework complete? My colors are off – done in 40 or fewer strokes with a 1 inch brush. The painting I’m using is Artemisia Gentileschi”s Self-Portrait as the Allegory of Painting, 1638–39, Royal Collection.
The original and I were both visiting Vancouver in January 2018 – what a treat to see it!
More homework for Catherine Kehoe’s Head class at Mass Art, with thanks to MK (top row – palette: Alizarin Crimson/Ultramarine Blue/Indian Yellow/Titanium White) and Eve (bottom row – palette: Quinacridone Red/Cadmium Yellow Deep/Cobalt Blue/Titanium White ) for their patience.
Take 2 12 inch mirrors, duct tape them together on one side and prop up the mirrors so they reflect each other and you’ll see how you actually look to the rest of the world instead of the more familiar mirror image.
