Day 4, "Woman with a Red Zinnia" by Mary Cassatt

Today I didn't work on the face at all (maybe I'm hoping it will improve on its own haha), but I repainted just about everything else. I darkened the bench and repainted the entire background, and I developed the woman's clothing. I'll probably do it all again next week, as well. I can see that Mary Cassatt used thick paint, and I guess I'm being tentative, but my paint is of a thin consistency. I think I'll get braver now that I have the folds and pattern of the dress in place, so that next week I'll go over it with more paint. Then I'll have to pay attention to her hand that's holding the flower. I know its color needs to be darker and more neutral, and my drawing is a little off, but I'll tackle that when I get to it. I think it's coming along.

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Day 3, "Woman with a Red Zinnia" by Mary Cassatt

Back to the National Gallery after taking some weeks off for a trip to Maine. I needed to correct the proportions in the face, mine looked pretty different and my colors were too garish. A likeness in a portrait is so dependent on getting all the little shapes right. I went in and just repainted the whole face. I don't know if it's right, but it may be the best I can do.

I started by reducing the size of that ear, by bringing her hair down over it a bit. I also reduced the height of her head by bringing the background down a bit. I think it might still be too big. Or maybe the face is too small? I worked on the landscape in the background. I still need to darken those trees. Here is how it stood when I broke for lunch:

After lunch, I worked on the dress. I didn't really get very far, but felt like I was getting the gist of it. As always, I try to get the feel rather than the exactness of the brush strokes. I know her hand needs to be darker, but I didn't have it in me to work any longer. Here is how it looks now:

Next time, I'll work on the face and hair again, and do more with the dress. The great thing about standing in front of the original painting to copy is that you can see which brush strokes were put on last. You can't see that in a reproduction. I don't know if Mary Cassatt actually painted this outdoors in a park, or worked on it in her studio, but it really looks like she did it outside. The light bounces around, reflecting up onto her face and neck from the white dress. I'll keep that in mind as I work on it.

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