Breton Girls, day 5 (final)

Today I wrapped this copy up. I worked on the girls' faces (including the one on the left that the lady last week told me Not to Touch), and also spent time on the big house (I moved the right-hand chimney to the right). There was much more I could have done, mainly in the realm of teeny-tiny brush strokes, but I just don't care that much about that. I'm mainly interested in getting the drawing, composition, and color correct. I'm enough of a perfectionist to be unhappy with certain areas where the drawing doesn't match the original, but not too much of a perfectionist that I can't abandon it when I get tired of it.

Now I'm thinking of my next copy. When I went in today, I was seriously thinking of taking a long hiatus, or stopping copying completely. It's just such a big effort to make the trip in every Monday... but I had a pretty good day, and I decided to keep on going. I have three possible paintings that I'm going to ask permission to copy, and I'll start a new copy in two weeks.

Breton Girls, day 4

Last Monday was Veteran's Day, so it's been two weeks since I worked on this copy. I had been feeling kind of bad about the painting the last time I was there, but today went better. While I was setting up, a visitor (I think she was French) stopped to tell me how much she liked it. When I made disparaging remarks about the girl's face, which I had painted in hurriedly last time, and which I hated, she said, "No, it's good! Don't touch it!" and asked for my card. That gave me confidence to attack the painting again.

As usual, I spent a long time mixing colors and ended up wasting a lot of paint. But I think I made good progress. Next week I will concentrate on the figures, and try to wrap this copy up.

(click on the images for a larger view.)

Breton Girls (day 3?)

I think this is day 3 - I only have a post for the first day, but I'm pretty sure I copied the following week - I just forgot to post that one. Oh well - I went in today for just a couple of hours and worked mainly on the village in the background and the girl on the left. I was feeling very grumpy for some reason, and not very satisfied. The drawing is a little off, and that drives me crazy. I just have to accept the fact that it's not going to be an exact copy, and be satisfied with trying to get the colors right. I have a long way to go on this one.

New copy begun - "Breton Girls Dancing, Pont-Aven" by Paul Gauguin

This week I started a new copy, a very charming painting by Paul Gauguin. Three little girls doing a dance in a grassy field... I was attracted by the multi-figure composition, the buildings in the background, the abstract design of the painting, the expressions on the girls' faces. (I imagined that the girl on the left was wondering why on earth that strange man was standing there painting them while they danced!)

Here is a link to the original painting by Gauguin: http://www.nga.gov/content/ngaweb/Collection/art-object-page.61369.html

This time, I approached the copy a little differently, more freely than I usually do. I didn't do a lot of measuring - I kind of just jumped in and drew freely and gesturally with a brush, just as I would with live models.

After I got the basic composition sketched in, I broke for lunch. After lunch I roughed in some basic color, but it's really just a general idea. Next week I'll paint all over the whole canvas, and get the colors better. I was more concerned with the feeling of the little girls dancing, trying to get their sizes, relative placement, and gesture correct. I can see that the buildings in the background are not the right sizes yet, but I'll deal with them next week.

I was pretty happy yesterday, especially considering I had a headache when I got there and wasn't planning on staying all day - I felt a lot better by the end of the day.

Cézanne's "The Peppermint Bottle" - done!

After taking the summer off from copying at the National Gallery, I returned today for Day 4 of my Cézanne copy. I didn't think I would finish it today - in fact, I was sure that I would need to come back for one last day on it. But surprise! It somehow came together and felt complete, and I knew I was done with it.

A museum visitor asked my permission and took my picture. When I asked her to email me a copy, she took another one and asked me to Smile.

It was a welcome change from people who just snap my picture all day without asking my permission! (I don't smile for them!)

The completed copy.

It's coming along! Day 3, Cézanne's "The Peppermint Bottle"

I made it down there today by noon (I know, a late start again!), but I ate lunch before I started painting, thinking that I would paint for four hours straight. I made it until three, but then I totally ran out of steam. But I got quite a bit accomplished, I think.

(click on the images for a larger view)

The cutest thing that happened today was a class of teenage girls who all sat cross-legged on the floor behind me and quietly watched me paint for about 15 minutes. I told them they were such polite museum-goers!

Next Monday is Memorial Day, so it will be two weeks before I can work on this again. I'm thinking one more day ought to do it, two at the most. I'm already scouting around the museum for my next copy!

Day 2 - Cézanne's "The Peppermint Bottle"

I didn't come last week, and I got there late today, because I had errands to run this morning. I got started on this at around noon, and painted without stopping until 2:30. Then I just had to take a break. Here's how it looked at that point:

I came back from my break and painted another 45 minutes until 4:00, which is the mandatory stopping time. I could have kept going, and ended up wasting a lot of good paint which I had spent a long time mixing, but c'est la vie. I must say, I'm really enjoying this copy. I'm in a room with nothing but Cézannes, and I really enjoy listening to the tour guides and visitors talking about him. I'm having a lot of fun applying the paint in his little diagonal dabby marks. I'm finding it not too hard to match his color palette, using only my own limited palette of cadmium yellow, cadmium red, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, and white. Here is how it looked at the end of the day:

(click on the images for a larger view)

I can't wait to come back next week and continue working on it.

New copy - Cézanne's "The Peppermint Bottle"

It has been almost a year since I've been to copy at the National Gallery! I decided not to finish the last copy I was working on, and got a permit to copy "The Peppermint Bottle" by Cézanne.
I started by sketching it out very carefully, using light blue paint. I did a lot of measuring, you know, with my brush held at arm's length, squinting down the length of my arm. I always feel like an idiot doing that, with a crowd of people watching me, but it's the only way I know to get an accurate drawing. Here is my set-up in front of the painting, and the progress I made before I broke for lunch.

After lunch, I started putting in some color. I didn't get too far, and decided not to push it, since I was tired and freezing. Usually the galleries are very warm and humid, but today it was really chilly in there, and I was just wearing a t-shirt. So I called it a day. I feel that this is a pretty solid start, and I'm looking forward to picking it up again next Monday.

copy after Cézanne's "The Peppermint Bottle", day 1