"Biglin Brothers Racing" Day 2

Here is how it looked when I stopped for lunch...

... and at the end of the day. I'm pretty happy with how this copy is coming along. The original is very dark (needs cleaning), but the longer I look at it, the more I can see.

"The Biglin Brothers Racing" by Thomas Eakins, day 1

After a hiatus of almost a year, I went back to the National Gallery today to start a new copy. (Hearing that inactive copyists were going to have their lockers cleaned out and their supplies discarded was what lit the fire under me.) I chose to copy "The Biglin Brothers Racing" by Thomas Eakins, for a few reasons. One, all the Impressionist galleries are closed for renovation. Two, Eakins was a Philadelphia painter, and this scene took place on the Schuylkill River. Having gone to college in Philly, I liked the subject matter. Three, it's a beautiful painting! (This is a photo of the original on the wall.)

I had a printout of the painting from the web site, and I folded the picture to find the centers. I discovered that the two rowers fit into a rectangle whose top is the horizontal center of the painting, bottom is halfway from the center to the bottom, and sides are the center third of the painting. Very cool!

I found the centers and thirds of my blank canvas, and carefully sketched the major elements of the painting with burnt sienna. (I could have gotten this far at home, but I much prefer starting it in front of the real painting.)

This is how far I got by mid-day. I toned the canvas with burnt sienna, except for the sky. You can see how dark the original painting on the wall is. I think it needs cleaning, it seems very dirty.

This is how it looked at the end of Day 1. It was good to get back to copying, I really love being there for the whole day, immersed in a painting.