New Copy - Cézanne's "Still Life with Apples and Peaches"

Today I started a new copy, of Cézanne's "Still Life with Apples and Peaches". This was a painting I wanted to do last winter, but was told that it was scheduled to go on loan in June. But it never went. I requested it again, and got permission to copy it.

According to the National Gallery's web site, the original painting is 31 7/8" x 39 9/16". I used my handy-dandy "Painting Resizer", an Excel spreadsheet that my husband made for me (thank you Hal!) to find a size that would be at least 2" smaller (NGA rules) and be as close as possible to whole inches (the only way commercial stretcher bars come.) The first number I plugged in to the spreadsheet was 29", and it came out with exactly 36" for the width! Very cool. I stretched and gessoed the canvas, and drew a light grid with pencil, so I could more easily copy this complicated still life. Finding the centers on the original is easy because the frame has a detail in the centers of the sides. Having the centers and quarters marked on my blank canvas saved me a lot of time and effort.

I worked on the drawing for about two hours and then stopped for lunch.

 (click for a larger view)

After lunch I started painting. I really didn't know where to start, so I just started putting in the dark background and the table. I worked until almost 3:30 and then started feeling tired. I want to go slowly on this one, because I've heard that Cézanne was a very slow painter. He would paint and repaint, and move his easel to get different details not visible from his first vantage point. This is why his paintings do not have conventional perspective. He was aware that he could move slightly and see a very different looking thing, so he incorporated that into his painting. Because of this, Cézanne is considered to be the father of many of the modern art movements of the 20th century.

Here is where I stopped for the day. I'll be back in two weeks to continue!

The Cradle, day 6, I'm done with this one

I decided that today would be my last on this copy. I could have gone on longer, but I felt that I had worked on it long enough. I kind of messed up the baby's face toward the end of the day... I corrected the drawing of the eyes, but changed the color in a bad way, and the nose is all wrong now. It was after lunch, and I was getting tired. Not a good time to keep on painting, but I did anyway, because I needed to finish it. Other than the baby's nose (which I suppose I could correct at home if I am so inclined), I think it's acceptable.

detail of the baby in the Monet

detail of the baby in my copy

Once again, I invite you to click on the images to enlarge them, and flick back and forth between the two. You'll see where mine is still off... but enough is enough, and I just didn't want to keep working on it.

The final copy

Next week, I will start a new copy: Cézanne's "Still Life with Apples and Peaches".  It looks like it will be a lot of fun!

The Cradle, day 5

I spent the morning working on the background, correcting the color. Mine was too warm and reddish. So I mixed up a new gray with more blue in it (I used burnt umber and manganese blue, plus white.) This was a good color for the upper left quadrant of the painting. The right side was warmer, so I made another mixture with more burnt umber, less manganese, and added some cadmium yellow, plus white. I worked on it all morning and was happier with the color of the background draperies. I used the background color on the right to cut into Camille's face a little so she didn't look so plump-cheeked. I also repainted the bed posts and the yellow bed on the left.

This is how far I was at lunchtime:

After lunch I repainted the drapery over the cradle so I could put the details of red flowers and green leaves on it. When I was satisfied with the cloth, I started painting the flowers. I used alizarin crimson and cadmium red light, with some burnt umber and white, in different combinations for the flowers. I used cobalt blue and cad yellow, and ultramarine and cad yellow, in different combinations for the leaves. Monet's flowers are just dabs he made quickly with a tiny brush, and my brush wasn't as small. I also had to be careful and not as free as he was.

I thought I might finish today, but decided not to rush it. I was getting lost in the flowers, so I'm leaving the rest for next week. This is as far as I got:

click on the images for a larger view.

The Cradle, day 4

I haven't been to the Gallery in a few weeks because of other painting events (painting outdoors with the Loudoun Sketch Club and at a friend's house), but I got back into DC today and got right to work. My first order of business was to correct the baby's face, because mine looked like he had his cheeks puffed out. I worked for a long time, and I think I got closer. Here is a close up of the baby in Monet's painting, and then one of mine:

If you click to enlarge, and toggle back and forth between them, you can see where I am still off. Seeing them on the computer like this is really helpful in showing me where my mistakes are.

Here is the painting at the end of the day. I worked a lot on the cradle's drapery, and on the left-hand side of the background drapery. Still a ways to do, but maybe I'll be done in a week or two