Day Two, copy after "Pierre Louis Alexandre" by Karin Bergöö Larsson

I didn't have a great night's sleep last night and got in a little late, but I got right to work correcting the color of the background of this painting. Today I used only Sevres Blue + white. Last week I used some ultramarine blue, which was the wrong choice. Sevres Blue is a color made by Williamsburg paints. The tube says it consists of Phthalo blue and white, which is more greenish in hue than ultramarine. I think it's a little improved, but still seems a little wrong. While I was painting over the blue today, I saw that Larsson had painted over a warmer, darker color, which I did not do. Oh well.

While I was painting the blue around the head, I slightly shifted the head back to the left a little. I had made it too jutting forward towards the right, and I realized that it wasn't like that. so I painted the back of the head a little to the left, and I brought the blue background a little over the face on the right. I also slightly changed the placement of the ear, and painted in some of the ear anatomy. (I think ears are very hard to paint! Larsson did an excellent job!)

Then I started working on his features. This is almost a profile, but you can see just a tiny bit of his eye on the far side of his face, so that makes it a 3/4 view, or maybe a 7/8 view! His head is tilted slightly up, or maybe it's just that the model stand was above Larsson's eye level. So the perspective on the head is pretty complicated and difficult. I changed the mouth a bit, because mine was too horizontal and his went up a little more to the left. I mixed a dark color and painted his hair and beard. I don't have any black on my palette, so I made the dark by mixing Dioxizine purple, Phthalo green, and cadmium red. 

Then, I couldn't avoid the eyes any longer, so I went for it. Starting with the far eye, I painted them in an abstract way, just copying the shapes and colors that I saw and not thinking too much about anatomy. I don't hate them. I think my copy looks like it could be the same individual, but with a slightly different expression on his face. I decided not to go further today, and I won't be in for the next couple of weeks, but the next time I'm there, I'm going to work on the shirt and pants, and make some corrections to his arm and hands.

I'm so impressed with how good a portrait painter Karin Bergöö Larson was, and yet we haven't heard of her. She's totally eclipsed by her famous painter husband, Carl Larsson. She has a Wikipedia page, but much of the space there is actually devoted to her husband's paintings of her! I edited the page to include this painting - the first time I've edited a Wikipedia page. I didn't know how to do it right - the painting I uploaded is too small, but at least it's there! If anybody knows how to make it larger, feel free to tweak my edit.

Here is my progress from today:

I'm really enjoying painting this model. As I said in my first post last week, I feel like I'm painting directly from the model - I think it's because Larsson made him so close to the picture plane and filled the whole painting with him. It feels like he's really there in front of me. And it just has the feel of art school about it, so I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

Thanks for reading! Click the images for a larger view.

Day One, New Copy, "Pierre Louis Alexandre" by Karin Bergöö Larsson

Pierre Louis Alexandre by Karin Bergöö Larsson

I was really looking forward to starting this copy! I got my canvas stretched, 30" x 24", which was as close as I could get to the proportions of the original painting. I didn't draw a grid on it as I sometimes do, because I was planning on approaching this copy as if I were painting from a model - the subject of this painting actually was a model posing for an art class! So I started on a blank surface. I mixed up a neutral gray color, like the charcoal I would draw with in a figure session, and I started with a loose gesture drawing, trying to capture the gesture of the model's pose. Here is the gesture drawing:

I then started measuring, because I do care about making an accurate portrait. Where I discovered mistakes, I wiped out my lines with a paper towel dipped in Gamsol. After a lot of careful measuring, comparing angles, lining things up with verticals and horizontals (an invisible grid), this is what I had:

After lunch, a copyist friend pointed out that my drawing was a little off in the back and shoulder area, so I made some corrections, which helped, and then I started mixing color. I wasn't expecting to cover the whole surface today, but I managed to do it! I can see that my color blue in the background isn't right, but I'll deal with that next time. This is the first pass, and was painted with thin paint. As I go forward, I'll use more paint and correct the colors as I go. I also see that I'll need to correct the shape of his forehead, but I'm pretty happy with the head and body. The clasped hands are especially interesting to do!

Here is the painting at the end of today:

As I'd hoped, this really did feel like painting from a model! And the great thing about this model is, he doesn't need breaks, never moves, and will be able to get back into the exact pose again the next time I paint him! Fantastic!

Thanks for reading! Click on the images for a larger view.

My next copy, "Pierre Louis Alexandre" by Karin Bergöö Larsson

I just got permission for the next painting I'm going to copy at the National Gallery of Art. It's titled, "Pierre Louis Alexandre", and it was painted by Karin Bergöö Larsson. Here is the text from the painting's label:

"Having escaped a French colony in Latin America, Pierre Alexandre fled to Sweden. He worked in the harbors and, when the docks froze over in the winter, modeled at the art academy. Alexandre may have been the only Black person many of the art students knew. They often used costumes and props to cast him in exotic poses.
But in this portrait, young Karin Bergöö, one of the few women students at the academy, captures Alexandre’s individuality. Because he is close to the picture plane, he feels physically present, even if his far-off gaze suggests his mind is elsewhere."

I'm a little scared to tackle this, because I don't practice portraiture very much, but the figure has long been one of my concentrations. I don't get to work from a model very often, so I'm going to treat this copy as if I was working directly from the model. It will be interesting to see if I can maintain the spirit of working from a live model and still be accurate in copying this painting.

"Pierre Louis Alexandre" by Karin Bergöö Larsson

See the painting on the National Gallery's website

Day 3 and Final, copy after "Place du Carrousel, Paris" by Camille Pissarro

I went to the National Gallery today determined to be finished with this copy, even if it wasn't "done", because I just wasn't feeling it. But I went at it with a good amount of paint, and ended up actually finishing it, in the sense that there isn't anything else I want to do to it. I ended up having a good time making marks like Pissarro's, copying his "handwriting" of scribbly brush strokes.

I think today I had the most people coming up to me and making positive remarks than just about any other copy I've done, and I've done a LOT of copies. It felt very affirming and uplifting, to have so many lovely people wanting to chat with me and being thrilled with my copy. Can't say I really understand why, because I don't think it's all that brilliant, but it was very nice!

I turned in my permit for this one, and spent some time wandering around the museum searching for the next painting I want to copy. I sent my three choices to the Registrar's office, and she will let me know which one is available. Then I'll stretch a new canvas, getting as close to the proportions of the original as possible and staying at least 2" smaller or larger, as the rules require. I hope I get my first choice! Stay tuned.

Thank you for reading! Clicking the image will give you a larger view.