Paul Cézanne, "House of Père Lacroix"

Wow! I just got back to copying, after a year away! The Registrar got promoted, and there was nobody in the position, so nobody could start a new copy. I had turned in my permit for the Mary Cassatt I was working on last summer, and was intending on coming back in the fall, but I couldn't. They finally hired a new Registrar, and last week was the earliest I was able to get back in. I decided not to continue with the Mary Cassatt (I wasn't happy with my canvas - I had used too light stretcher bars and it was warping), but chose this nice little Cézanne instead. Last Thursday was my first day on it, but I Forgot To Post! So today I'll post pictures from last week as well.

This is Cézanne's lovely painting, on the wall in the National Gallery

Here is my easel and copy when I took a break for lunch on the first day. I neglected to take a picture of the canvas that I brought in to the museum - instead of starting on a blank, white canvas as I used to do, and measuring and drawing directly from looking at the painting, I "cheated" by printing out a picture of the painting from the NGA's web site and dividing it into halves and quarters. Then I drew the same grid onto the blank canvas and sketched in the basic placement of the elements of the painting. This saves a lot of time, so I was able to cover the whole canvas with paint by lunchtime on the first day.

This is how the copy looked at the end of the first day. Just trying to establish values and get the colors close.

And this is me posing for a visitor, who offered to take this picture with my phone!

 I guess I forgot to take a picture before lunch, but this is how it looked at the end of the second day. I want to try to use more paint and build up my brush strokes like he did. My paint is thin and dry compared to his. I need to get more exuberant! I have refrained from putting in the foliage that is covering the right side of the house, because it looks to me like Cézanne painted wet-over-dry in that area. I put some details in too early, and will probably paint over them next time, which should be two weeks from today.

Click on the pictures for a larger view.