Bouguereau - Etude de Tete

[Mari DeRuntz]

Original:

[Mari DeRuntz]

Whoops, still learning how to attach files. This is the original:

[Mari DeRuntz]

And this is the copy:

[Michael Georges]

Hello Mari:

Congrats! I don't know if this is your first master copy or not, but you did a good job here. I hope you learned a lot from it.

My comments:

I see a definate style in how you applied your strokes. Quite bold and brushy. This is a valid style and I hope you were trying to do that. If not, then you have a natural tendency for it - explore it.

The scan looks a little yellow to me - is the original that way?

Keep an eye out to the features - the right eye looks a tad off and the nostrils are flared out farther than MBs subject were.

You established a good palette of values and the 3d impression comes off nicely.

Her eyebrows seem to be darker than her hair. I might lighten them somewhat.

Nice work on the ear! Ears can be hard to paint.

The garment looks gray/yellow and somewhat dirty. I might punch up the highlights.

You seemed to have used a warmer palette than he did. Again, is this just the scan?

_________________

Can you share what you learned?
What frustrated you most?
What you found easiest about it?
How did you go about reproducing this work? What steps did you go through?

Again, quite nice!

[Mari DeRuntz]

Thank you Michael for your thoughtful post!

This was my second copy, first one was a Vermeer, which also is posted on this forum. In many ways this one was more difficult: a more complex gesture of the head (lots of re-checking measurements...), and thinner, more transparent paint.

Both paintings were very rewarding to copy. I grew up in Europe and have been very lucky to view a lot of great art first hand, and honestly did not expect to learn so many big and small lessons simply copying someone else's work.

Both paintings have led me to re-invest time in simple value studies, and I'm now working on two paintings where I'll try the 9-value verdaccio underpainting you wrote about in another post.

Some artists on this forum seem to come from the camp that you shouldn't paint until you nail down the foundations: drawing from life, anatomy, perspective, et cetera. I find quite honestly that there are also very specific qualities to oil paints that you have to paint your way though. Copies provide a great lesson not only in technical areas of drawing, composition, anatomy, but also lessons in the plastic application of oil paints to various grounds.

Overall, the lessons seem isolated and uncluttered when I'm painting a copy. I don't have to deal with an inferior photo reference, I don't have to schedule a model, and I'm beginning to adopt a consistent method from one painting to the next: charcoal drawing on a toned canvas, value-correct underpainting, middle stage where I try to use only slow-drying colors and then the finish stage.

I haven't found anything frustrating at all about learning this way. I bought Peggy Baumgaertner's video series and I really love her philosophy: that painting is a series of "corrections."

Finally, I do need to learn more about photographing artwork; I'm using a digital camera and need to set up a better lighting system, with color-corrected bulbs.

Thank you again for all your wise posts on this forum, you have helped clarify what can be a very elusive medium.