For my next copy, I chose "Narragansett Bay, 1864" by William Stanley Haseltine. I chose it because it reminds me of the coast of Maine, where I've been painting since about a year ago during extended trips. (Retirement is grand!) I'm hoping that by copying this painting, I'll be better prepared to paint those rocks. Standing in front of this painting, it's easy to feel like I'm there in the landscape, with the advantage of having what feels like all the time in the world to work on getting the colors right, without the light changing, the wind blowing, or the bugs biting!
I went in with a completely white canvas, so I had to spend a very long time figuring out where to put the horizon. I measured repeatedly, making little tick marks with my brush to indicate where different elements in the composition fell. I also used an app that superimposed gridlines over a photo of the painting, which helped a lot. After about an hour and a half, I finally felt like I had the horizon and general rock shapes in the right places, so I started to block in the darks. Then I went to lunch.
After a nice long lunch with my fellow copyists (who have become good friends, especially since we also go out painting the landscape together!), I turned on the speed to try to get the whole painting covered by the end of the day (which is 4:00, when we have to stop copying.) I didn't quite make it, leaving the water on the right still unpainted. I'm a little afraid of that wave! That will be the first thing I do next week.
I'm excited about this painting! And I'm looking forward to next June and July, when I'll be back in Maine to tackle the real thing again.
Click on the images for a larger view
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