Saturday, April 28, 2012

Still Life

I put some finishing touches in the pears, fixed the plate and a few other things.  I want to bring it to a conclusion, even if I'm not crazy about it.  I think this painting is  a good learning lesson.

Oil on board. 12 x 12

Friday, April 27, 2012

Fridays at the Met 3

Had to miss last week because of a previous obligation, so I really want to work today!!
The goal was to start coloring, a soft glaze, just looking for the colors, trying to match those in the painting, how they were before they aged.  I like doing that and I think that I was doing pretty well until I reached the sky.  I put a color down, I scraped it, I  started again, scraped it again, and no matter how much I tried, did not even come close to the real thing.  There is an instructor to this workshop, I'll ask for help. He's there mostly for guidance and to make sure we don't run amock,. I don't see him more than once or twice.  In his defense, we are one copyist per gallery, so the poor man has to go from gallery to gallery to see his students.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Flower Study

This morning's painting was an effort to capture the beauty of the flower in an artistic way, in 20 minutes.

Oil on canvas.  4 x 4

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Spring


I wish the best painting time wasn't around 6:30 - 7 in the morning, but, one must follow the light.
I titled this one Spring because after I was finished I could see the yellows and greens pemeating the entire painting.
These little landscapes are the essence of my painting experience, my favorite thing to do and the only reason why I get up so early.

Oil on canvas.  4 x 6

Monday, April 23, 2012

Still Life 2

It's been a few days since I last painted.  The business of painting sometimes gets in the way of the craft.  I also cleaned and organized my studio; it was long overdue.  Just to get back into the routine, I played around with last weeks' still life.  I made the over all color scheme more cohesive; now the white jug doesnt look out of place. Two things became clear; the first, it'll take at least lifetime to master white objects, if ever.  The second: I seem to have a curious weakness for busy fabric patterns.

Oil on board.  12 x 12

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Purple Pansy

I really just wanted to paint the flower.  Looking at the painting I should have just done that.  Well, "every painting is a lesson for the next", I forgot who said it, but it's so true!!

Oil on canvas.  8 x 8

Monday, April 16, 2012

Still Life

Just experimenting using patterns.  This one is work in progress; I will change and rearrange a few things.

Oil on board.  12 x 12

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Angel in the Garden

A friend of mine gave me this tiny canvas and asked me to paint a pansy on it for her.  Well, it took a couple of years for me to comply because I was so intimidated by such a small canvas.  But today I did and I was rewarded by seeing for the first time that the dark pattern on the flowers make an angel's wings.  Does everybody know that?? Am I the last one to know?? Wow, it's beautiful!!
Thanks my friend, come and get it, you know who you are.

Oil on canvas.  2.5 x 2.5

Friday, April 13, 2012

Fridays at the Met 2

Second day of the workshop, redefining shadow shapes and studying very closely the gesture.  I tend to rush my paintings a little, a lot, I guess is from my plein air background.  Can't do that here, everything has to be observed and given a lot of thought.  My tendency would be to make my version of the painting, but that's not the goal here, so I'm struggling.  My arm wants to paint freely, but I must follow Mr. Massimo Stanzione.
I still spent some time very lost in the galleries, it did not get any better than last week.
After the workshop was finished, I stayed in the European Galleries and just looked in awe, especially in frond of Diego Velasquez's "Juan de Pareja", and Rembrandt's self portraits.
Today was a good day!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Glass and Pear

I missed my daily painting routine.  It's amazing how quickly I can get disorganized!!  Well, vacation is over, I'm ready to start again!! A painting almost every day starts today!!

Oil on linen.   6 x 6

Friday, April 6, 2012

Fridays at the Met 1

I joined a workshop on Fridays for the next 8 weeks.  The object is to copy a masterwork from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I cannot begin to describe how excited and honored I am.  To think that I have the priviledge of standing with my easel and paints in front of a mastepiece.
I chose Judith with the Head of Holofernes, painted by Massimo Stanzione(1585-1656). This picture dates from around 1640.
I am an official "copyist" at the Met; my canvas was stamped on the back, as not to be confused with the real one, and I have a permit and a locker!!
The workshop is only 3 hours.  Today I worked mostly on the charcoal drawing.  It was a pretty exhausting day, there's a lot of walking and the first day was pretty disorganized.  And of course, I got lost a lot!