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.