Day 2, "Lady Caroline Howard, 1778", by Sir Joshua Reynolds

Yesterday I got off to a very late start, but I jumped right in to paint in the face, which I didn't get to last week. I also spent a lot of time repainting the black cape, because I had gotten the color of the light areas too red. Now they're too blue. I guess next time I'll try to get it right with a more neutral gray, that still appears bluish or reddish in different areas. It's very tricky! I also made a first pass on the hat.

All in all, I painted for a pretty short time yesterday, and I'm not really happy with what I did. The head seems too small, the arm too long, the hand too big. Next week I'll try to get in earlier and fix everything again.

New Copy, "Lady Caroline Howard, 1778", by Sir Joshua Reynolds

Today was Day 1 of my copy of "Lady Caroline Howard, 1778" by Sir Joshua Reynolds. I had walked around the museum searching for potential paintings to copy, and this one was on my list. This intelligent-looking seven-year-old girl in her very fancy clothes, examining a rose bush under a dramatic sky, appealed to me. I also liked where the painting was hanging, right in the middle of a wall with a large open space that ended at the side of the couches that were in the middle of the room - I could set up a good distance away, have a good view of the whole painting, and not be in anybody's way.

This is the original painting:

At 56 5/16 x 44 1/2 in., it's a large painting. We are only allowed up to 40" on the larger side. I happened to have a canvas already stretched and ready that measured 36" x 21" and that's close enough to the right proportions, so I used that.

I have to admit that I was not familiar with Sir Joshua Reynolds, so I read up on him a little bit. This is from the description of the painting on the NGA's website: 

"Reynolds deliberately imposed on his compositions certain formal artistic qualities that would give them the solidity and nobility of Greek, Roman, and Renaissance art. He also liked to suggest associations in his portraits that elevate them to some level beyond the merely descriptive. Roses are symbolically related to Venus and the Three Graces, and Reynolds may well have intended to allude to their attributes, Chastity, Beauty, and Love, as ideals to which Lady Caroline should aspire." Reynolds was not formally trained, but apprenticed to Thomas Hudson, the most fashionable portraitist of the day, according to the NGA's website. If you're interested, you can read more of Reynolds' biography here.

I got right to work putting some paint down, trying to get the right value and color temperature, mainly trying to cover all the white so I would have something to work against. I had sketched the figure and other elements onto the canvas at home in charcoal, to save time in the museum. I painted for about an hour before I went to lunch (I had gotten in late today), and this is as far as I got:

After lunch, I continued to put colors down. I tried to match the colors I saw, but I always tend to go too bright and plan on neutralizing them more in later passes. The important thing for me is to cover the white, then I can start to make adjustments.

Here is the painting at the end of the day. I didn't put the face or hands in yet, partly because I ran out of red paint, and it was almost time to leave. I've stopped bringing in tubes of paint, since I have to carry it all in a backpack and it's pretty heavy. So I stole a genius idea from other copyists and squeezed my colors out into a "paint garage" which I keep in the freezer between sessions. Next time I'll bring more red paint.

I know that the white dress needs to be much lighter, and I think the black jacket and surrounding landscape should be darker - adjustments I will make next time. I know there's too much blue in my sky, but I think that's what I'm seeing underneath the gray clouds. And of course I'll start the next session by painting in the face, hat, and hands. When I repaint the sky, I'll try to paint in that bit of a rainbow that's visible just to the right of the rose bush. I'm pretty happy with the beginning of this copy and look forward to next time.

Click the images for a larger view

Day 5 and final, "Madame David" by Jacques Louis David

I decided that today would be the last day I would work on this copy. I'm not completely satisfied with my painting, but it's close enough, I learned a lot, and I just felt like being done. So I basically put little details in like the highlights on the eyes and some more feathers in the hat, and defined the curls of her hair. I was finished before lunch. Lots of museum visitors told me how much they liked it, and many of them asked me what I do with my copies when I'm done with them. I told them they basically pile up in my house! I've been copying since 2000, on and off, and I've done dozens of copies, having only sold two, which were both commissions. I'm copying because it's fun and a great way to learn. If a copy comes out especially good, I'll frame it and hang it on the wall, but otherwise they get stacked in my storage room.

Here is how it came out (pardon the shadow from the easel.) I feel like my figure looks a little bit slumped and more tired than the woman in David's painting, but it's very subtle.

I turned in my permit and got permission for my next copy, which will be "Lady Caroline Howard" by Sir Joshua Reynolds. I chose it because it's a figure in a landscape, which is an interest of mine, and it has more of that shiny cloth that I like painting. I hope to get a new canvas stretched in time to start on it next Thursday.

Click the images for a larger view

Day 4, Copy of "Madame David" by Jacques-Louis David

I've started catching an earlier express bus in to DC, because the last bus of the morning, at 8:35, often doesn't show. So I'm now getting the 8:15, which takes the express lanes and gets me close to the National Gallery (6 blocks away) in about 35 minutes. (By contrast, I used to take the Metro, which after a 25-minute drive to the nearest station takes 45 minutes to get there.) The gallery doesn't open until 10, so I walked to a coffee shop and enjoyed a cup of coffee before walking to the NGA. This morning was partly sunny and beautiful after many days of rain. I took this picture from the bus as we crossed the Potomac from Virginia. Memorial Bridge is in the distance and the Lincoln Memorial is visible on the left. Washington is such a beautiful city, and that's one of the things I really enjoy about going in to copy every week.

The cherry blossoms are over, but the bleachers from the festival remain along Constitution Avenue.

After my coffee, I arrived at the NGA just in time for the doors to open. This brave squirrel really wanted me to give him a treat.

After getting my permit renewed, which we must do every month, I got to work right away on Madame David. I worked steadily for about 2 1/2 hours on her face, hat, and parts of her dress. There was still something wrong with the mouth, but it was time for lunch.

After a shorter than usual lunch with my copyist buddies, I spent some time working on her mouth, hands and right arm. We don't have to stop copying until 4:00, but by 3:15 I suddenly realized I was very tired and it was time to stop. Here is how the painting looked at the end of the day. 

I still have a ways to go. I don't have her expression quite right. To me, the expression on her face in David's painting is much more animated than I've managed to get. When I look at the original, I see David's wife, feeling a little self-conscious (you can see the tension in the muscles below her mouth as she tries to maintain a pleasant expression,) but she looks as though she's really tickled to be posing for her husband, a famous portrait painter, whom she loves. I don't know if I'll be able to catch that - I think I need to make her eyes smile more - but it's fun to try. I'd like to get into painting portraits, and copying from a master like David is a great way to learn and practice. Now I just have to find somebody willing to sit for me!

Click the images for a larger view, and feel free to leave a comment below