New copy:"The Artist's Garden at Eragny" by Camille Pissarro

The Impressionist galleries have just reopened after being closed for two years for renovation. I really missed being able to copy the Impressionists, so as soon as I could, I got a permit to copy a Pissarro landscape.

 I came in with a white canvas (24"x30"), and got started blocking in the composition.

 I spent a long time mixing piles of all the colors I could identify, so that when I started painting, I could just pick up the right color instead of stopping to mix. This is how I paint outdoors, when I'm racing against the light.

Here is the painting after just under four hours. I wanted to get the whole white canvas covered up. The first coat just gets absorbed into the gesso, but next time, the paint should slide around more easily.

I can see a few problems with the composition to be corrected, and I'll adjust things here and there while I go into it next time. It's so great to be able to walk right up to the Pissarro and see how he painted everything together, wet into wet. The flowers and the spaces between them, the little plants and the dirt, the figure and the shadow. It all looks like it was done at once, with thick, luscious paint. You can't see that in a book!

You can see Pissarro's painting here.