It's been three weeks since I've been in to copy, because I've been busy going out and painting landscapes while the weather in the DC area has been amazingly gorgeous. But today I got back to the NGA to work on this copy.
I spent today mainly obsessing over the face. I corrected the shape of her jaw and worked on mixing all the flesh tones in her face. I also worked on the green landscape on either side of her head. Interestingly, I ended up using only cadmium red light, ultramarine blue, white, and cadmium yellow, in different combinations, all day. Nothing else. So cool how many different colors you can make with just this limited palette. (This only applies to what I worked on today - I think I used more colors on Day 1.)
I'm interested in painting the figure in the landscape, so I'm working as if from life. My person does not yet look like Cassatt's. I don't expect that my painting will be an exact copy. I'll be happy if it looks like Mary Cassatt and I were both working from the same model. After painting outdoors for the past several weeks and dealing with all that changing light, working from a model and landscape that doesn't change feels like such a luxury! Copying a master painting is so educational. I know that what I do here will carry over into my own paintings.
Now I'm off to spend a few weeks in Maine, painting up there. I'll be back to copy in July. See you then!
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