February 25, 2008

"Woman with a Parasol" after Claude Monet

"Woman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son" by Claude Monet

This is one of my very favorite paintings in the museum, and Monet is one of my very favorite artists. This painting is either going to be very easy or very challenging.

Day 1: I spent today measuring and sketching the composition on my blank canvas, after first toning the canvas a light greyish beige. If you look closely at the original, you see that Monet left some blank canvas showing, and this beigey color is what is there. The white of the clouds is very obvious on top of this raw canvas color.

The strange thing about copying this painting is that Monet did it in one quick session, but I have to plan it very carefully. I did my careful planning and plotting out the drawing today, but next time I'm going to jump in with lots of paint and color. It's either going to be done very quickly, or I'm going to have to wipe it down and try again.

One thing I noticed today on looking at the painting closely, I believe that Monet may have added the figure of the little boy later. The sky seems to have been painted first, behind the boy, because I could see the brushstrokes of the sky under him, as if he had been added after the sky was dry.

Day 2, when I broke for lunch.

Day 2, end of the day.
Day 3: I've done all I can do, so I'm done.

6 comments:

Katherine said...

beautiful!!

finally i got a chance to see these painting

you captured a master

Bill Sharp said...

Amy, I came across your blogs from a comment you left on S. M. Sedwick's blog.

What a great job you have.

I grew up in Delaware and got my BFA at the University of Delaware where I studied under Steve Tanis, who I believe is (or was) married to Janet Fish. I thought that was kind of serendipitous and just wanted to say hi.

I Want To Be An Artist said...

This is fantastic! I hope that you are still doing this! I'm a fan!

Cheryl Anderson said...

Amy,
This is beautiful! How lucky you are to live so close, and good for you for taking the time to do this. Much can be learned from copying.

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Ouida Touchon said...

What has always intrigued me about this painting is the insight into Monet's love of Camille, his first wife. I sense there is a story there and have not the slightest idea how to find it. She died tragically young and was such a muse for him in those exciting years of his development as a master....anyway, Camille, please talk to us through this painting. Good work Amy!