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.
