Portraits & Prud'hon danseuses

It has been a busy summer and fall. In June & July I took a portrait-painting class at the Art Academy of Cincinnati taught by renowned portraitist Carin Hebenstreit. The first model (Julia) had a nice round face, with bountiful curly hair hanging in rivulets. Together with the little necklace she was wearing the total effect was so rich that it reminded me of Rembrandt's portraits of his first wife, Saskia. So I am calling this portrait "Julia As Saskia". I think that this painting would benefit from increased contrast.

Then in July we had a different model, Kris, herself an artist just graduated from the Art Academy. She had beautiful features, and a palpable radiance. I think that this portrait it technically better, though a bit pale. I intend to go back with some translucent glaze to "pink up" her skin tone, and add some detail to her dress (it was made of a printed fabric). This was my best portrait so far this year, although the contrast is a little soft.

In August I took a 3-day portrait-painting workshop, wherein I painted this portrait of Angela. I am not 100% pleased with it, but perhaps it isn't bad for a quick piece. I was also experimenting wiht Naples Yellow to add color in the face, and lost some of the contrast in the process. This caused it to lose depth and "flatten out" percieved dimensionality of the portrait, making it look somewhat cartoonish and not very realistic.

Usually we do these portraits on consecutive Wednesday evenings, over 4 weeks. That gives me time to let things meld a bit. I usually set up a photo of the model next to the painting in the living room, and give myself a week to study them. I then have a better idea of what I want to change to improve the painting the next time I go into the studio. I find that it also helps to have the paint dry out a bit during the week between workings. This wasn't possible in the 3-day workshop, which added an additional challenge.

In September I went to Washington DC for a quick 2-day conference on environmental regulations. While there I briefly visited the National Portrait Gallery. I definitely feel that I need to go back to study a few things in more detail. I was most excited to discover a great self-portrait by John Singleton Copely (1738-1815), [see image at right]. The image virtually jumped off the canvas, and from ~10 feet away it seemed I was looking at a living/breathing person. He was quite an advanced artist to be found in such a culturally bleak landscape as colonial Boston.

This summer I also completed two more copies of drawings by the French master Paul-Pierre Prud'hon (1758-1823). The first (completed in August) was a drawing of a dancer with a triangle: "La Danseuse au triangle" (Musée du Louvre, Paris, FR). I love the flowing fabric, and the classical pose.

Then in September I discovered & copied another dancer, with a tambourine: "La Danseuse au tambour de basque" (private collection).

In reading a biography of Prud'hon I learned that these drawings are part of a series of three dancers, which Prud'hon evidently intended to be displayed together. I have not been able to locate on the internet, or in books to which I have access, an image of the third dancer. It is held by the Musée Bonnat à Bayonne, FR.

Prud'hon's drawings did not originally have the yellow-ocre background, but the blue paper, which he used has faded over time if exposed to sunlight, to this effect. I like the contrast it presents, which causes the figures to pop-out from the background, so I drew both images on blue paper, and colored the background yellow-ocre.

Back to portrait painting in the fall. Julia was our model again. This time I was able to increase the contrast across the face, which I feel helps in being able “read” the painting from across the room. This photo of the painting suffers from a little glare, but you can probably get a feel for how it looks.

You will no doubt notice that at this stage the face is still only painted with Burnt Umber & Tit. White, making it look pale. Again I intend to go back in with a bit of glaze to give the face some color. I also feel that I need to darken the surrounding background. This will help with making the figure stand out, and because this painting is nearly monochromatic adding pink skin tone would tend to wash out otherwise.

Finally, and quite importantly, I took an Etching (intaglio) workshop this fall with Cincinnati artist April Foster. It was fantastic. I loved the whole process, from developing the sketch, polishing the plate, scratching through the resist, etching the plate in acid, much, much re-working, and finally inking and printing the final image. I ran a limited edition (12) of this portrait of John Muir with Half Dome in the background. (Mark: take notice: this is original art, not a copy of someone else’s work)

Well, that pretty much sums up the year for me, artistically at least. I welcome your comments. Please stay in touch.

Copies of Prud'hon's Academies - I

Today I am posting some of my recent artwork. I have been copying the academic drawings of Paul-Pierre Prud'hon (1758-1823), about one a month.

I came across an article in "Drawing" magazine (Sept. 2007), which featured Prud'hon's drawings, and I was immediately captivated. He became my current favourite artist, and set the goal for my personal development.

Prud'hon lived in Paris through the French revolution, and became a portraitist to Napoleon. He was known in his time for being a painter. However, today his paintings are not regarded as exceptional, while his academic drawings are!

I started with a sketch for an allegory painting: "Prud'hon's Tete de la Vengeance Divine" - Charcoal, pastel, & white chalk on grey Mi-Teintes paper (20 x 15 11/16; SjW Nov. 2007). This drawing had immediate appeal for me, and I felt a need to attempt to copy it, and so began my Prud'hon series.

Very close scrutiny against the original will reveal that I deliberately softened some of the anatomical features to give it a slightly more feminine look. Some of the details of the hair are not exactly true to the original, but perhaps close enough, eh? By the way, all of these copies I have drawn the size of Prud'hon's originals, which meant scaling up from photos in a magazine or book.

Based upon the relative success I had with this copy, I decided to try another. Wait until you see this!

"Prud'hon's Femme nue debout, de dos" - Charcoal, pastel, & white chalk on Sky Blue Mi-Teintes paper (24 x 13¾; SjW Dec. 2007).

I was smitten with the softness of the form, and particularly the backlighting from the left. I think that this is my favourite of all of Prud'hons academic drawings. It really pops out of the background, and gives the illusion of being almost photographic.

Prud'hon used the same model ("Marguerite") on many occasions, although in most of the drawings she appears slightly heavier of build. In this drawing her proportions come closest to the classical ideal, reminiscent of the "Venus de Milo" or "Aphrodite of Milos," which resides in the Louvre.

I have put much more work into most of the subsequent copies I have made, but I feel that this one is the most satisfactory.

At this point I felt that I was on a roll, and definitely up to the challenge of making copies of these Master Drawings, but I was humbled shortly thereafter.

In January of this year I thought I would do what appeared to be a relatively easy copy: "Prud'hon's Femme nue debout, penché" - Charcoal, pastel, & white chalk on Sky Blue Mi-Teintes paper (22 5/16 x 11¾; SjW, Jan, 2008).

However, I actually found her unfinished left arm and hand (to the right in the photo, of course) to be a challenge, with respect to balance. I have probably over-enphasized them here compared to the original.

Also, as Prud'hon did not finish this drawing, his dynamic range was a bit limited (the highlights & darks were not fully developed). I showed this copy to one of my art instructors, and she criticized it for being undeveloped. So I have gone back and increased the dynamic range, more than I felt was in the original. Still, it did not turn out as nice as my previous copy of the "Standing Female Nude, From Behind". For one thing, it does not have the same quality of backlighting.

Prud'hon originally drew this one on blue paper, which apparently was not acid free, and it has faded to yellow due to exposure to light. The same is true of the "Head of Vengeance," above. Just as I did when copying the "Head of Vengeance" (I used grey paper there), I started with cool-colored (Sky Blue) paper, and then used yellow pastel pencils (Carbothello brand, which I love for their smear-ability) to mimic the fading. Generally I think that the blue or grey papers make a nicer drawing than yellow, with a notable exception, below.

Then in February I drew: "Prud'hon's Homme ne, assis à droit, a la dos tourné" - Charcoal, pastel, & white chalk on Light Blue Mi-Teintes paper (17 3/16 x 11 3/16 ; SjW, Feb, 2008).

This was a bit of a change for me. You can probably tell that I am more fascinated by the female physique, than the male. However, one of my art teachers wanted to see what I could do with it, so I accepted her challenge.

I feel that this drawing is a little more successful than the last. The cast shadow on the back of the right arm, on the right side of the head, on the left leg, and on the bottom of the right thigh, etc. give this copy a sense of volume (3-dimensionality).

Looking at this photo I think that I probably gave too much emphasis to the height of the individual muscles in the back (they may be a little too pronounced), but I guess that was the point of this drawing anyway. I'm sure that Prud'hon wanted to convey a sense of strength.

In March I turned back to female physique, and copied "Prud'hon's Femme nue assise à droite, le bras levé" - Charcoal, pastel, & white chalk on Sky Blue Mi-Teintes paper (20½ x 14 15/16 ; SjW, Mar, 2008).

This drawing has some of the same backlighting that I had enjoyed so much in the "Standing Female Nude, From Behind." However this one doesn't pop out of the background as nicely as the former.

I also struggled a little with the mouth, trying to get the same expression as the original. As I mentioned, Prud'hon was a portraitist, and he had an obvious gift for capturing expression.

This photo may be slightly too green. I have been using 2 cool colors of Mi-Teintes paper: Light Blue and a light blue-green paper called "Sky Blue."

Other criticisms I have of this drawing are:

1) I can't decide if the bottom of the right buttock and under thigh have too much reflected light;

2) The side of the leg in front is darker than the leg behind it, which is contrary to conventional thought about light (i.e., parts closer to the viewer should be brighter, and those in the back darker); &

3) The breasts look too hard (like the Italian Renaissance bullets/tennis balls seen in Michelangelo's work), not soft like palpable organs of fat and cutaneous tissue.

In April I copied "Prud'hon's Jeune Homme ne assis à gauche levant le bras" - Charcoal, pastel, & white chalk on Sky Blue Mi-Teintes paper (14 9/16 x 10 5/8 ; SjW, Apr, 2008).

This drawing was less troublesome that the previous one. However, since so much of the figure is caught in direct light there is less opportunity for capturing the reflected light, and giving that 3-dimensional illusion. There is just a little under the left leg, and the raised left arm.

Again, this was drawn on Sky Blue paper, which I left for the unshaded portions of the figure, and I used yellow pastel pencils to mimic the fading of Prud'hon's paper. I like the resulting chromatic contrast.

I also like the unfinished hand here, and the long hair. It will be no surprise to those readers that know me, but I do not think long hair on men is effeminate in any way. I like the character it evokes. Yes, I grew up during the 1960's!

Next, in April & May I copied:

"Prud'hon's Homme nu debout, tenant une corde" - Charcoal & white chalk on yellow BKF Rives paper (23½ x 16¾; SjW, Apr-May, 2008).

This photo is a little pale. The drawing is a little more dramatic. The paper is almost as dark a yellow as in the previous drawing, with a strong buff tone. You will notice that drawing on colored paper with only white and black for the figure really gives that chromatic contrast I mentioned above.

Prud'hon intentionally left parts of the figure bare, without white highlight or black detonement. The feet are unfinished, but the thighs show this bareness.

The paper I used here is thicker than the Mi-Teintes, and had a bit of a knap, making it feel like a felt. Initially I was indifferent to this quality. I have sprayed some of the drawings with a fixative and found that this always flattened them (in a sense of optical density), with the result that I always had to go back after the fixative and re-work the drawing. However, I found that the knap of this paper actually resisted the optical flattening, and less subsequent re-work was required.

When I showed this drawing to one of my art teachers, she pointed out to me that Prud'hon had left more key spots of the upper torso bare of pigment than I had, thereby letting the color of the ground serve a stronger unifying function between the figure and the background. She suggested that I draw this one again, which I have not (yet) done, because I had already started the next drawing.

I accomplished a second copy in May: "Prud'hon's Femme nue assise ou 'La Source' " - Charcoal & white chalk on Light Blue Mi-Teintes paper (21 3/16 x 15 5/16 ; SjW, May, 2008).

This drawing added the architectural element of the fountain, which I liked. At this point I had intentionally stopped using the pastel pencils for the various grey shades, and limited my "palette" to the charcoal and white chalk, using the natural tone of the paper and blending to achieve the required tones.

While I feel that I was somewhat successful in learning this skill, I am not generally pleased with this drawing. The figure appears to me to be too stiff, particularly the front leg.

I thought that the figure appeared too flat, so I emphasized the highlights with the white chalk. Looking now at the photo it appears that I over-emphasized them.

After this, in June I copied a photo I found on the Internet of a woman playing a set of bagpipes: "Fiona Spielt der Dudelsack" - Charcoal, pastel, & white chalk on black Mi-Teintes paper (19 5/8 x 19 5/8 ; SjW, Jun, 2008).

The subject is a musician in a contemporary German group named "Faun." You may see the original photo by reading the bio for "Fiona Rüggeberg" under "Portrait" at Faun's website: http://www.faune.de/web2007/index.html.

The photo shows her playing on a dark stage, where she is lighted by yellow-green and blue stage lights.

Initially I drew this pretty dark to enhance the contrast, but decided to lighten the palette to show some of the features of the face and head more clearly.

I had wanted to send this drawing to the band, but feared that the pastel would fall off in transit, so I am thinking about having a giclée print made of it, and sending that instead.

Back to Prud'hon, in July I copied: "Femme nue, en buste ou 'Marguerite' " - Charcoal & white chalk on Sky Blue Mi-Teintes paper (14 7/8 x 18 7/16; SjW, Jul, 2008).

This is the only copy that I have drawn that is not the same size as Prud'hon's original. My copy is about 68% larger.

You can see that I have again limited my palette to just charcoal and white chalk. It is also obvious that I am becoming more comfortable with this technique, and did not grossly over-emphasize the highlights.

Still, I feel that the "Standing Female Nude, From Behind" has a more luminous quality, which I have not been able to capture in any of the subsequent drawings.

I have given some thought to having a show of these drawings, however, (excepting the portrait of Fiona) they are only copies of another artist's Master Drawings. I am not sure if etiquette would allow me to sell them.

Well, that's it. Please drop me a line and let me know what you think. I am also open to guidance and critique from other artists.

Well, I am beginning this blog tonight. Hopefully this will be easier than the website, which I started but could not readily edit.

This photo of me was taken by my daughter Auriel in a tea room in China Town, San Francisco (Aug. 2006).

I love tea, especially floral-scented teas, like Jasmine & Earl Grey. I like the green teas too.

Eventually I hope to post some of my artwork here as well.

Blessings to those who find these words.