A summer day on the Champs de l’Elysée, belonging to a young woman who strides in the prime of health and beauty, 'assured of certain certainties' -- one of these being that she has the world at her feet.
Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Hommage to Robert Henri
Oil on Canvas Board 18 x 24cm (7 x 9 1/2in)
This is a variant of a Paris street scene by Robert Henri. I find it more difficult copying an impressionist work than a realist one. An obviously rapid brush stroke in the original can be executed with equal rapidity – but not necessarily with anything like such a fortuitous result! I like adding figures, preferably women, frequently with their backs turned. (The viewer is to run ahead in imagination, to see if they are really beautiful.)
This was my submission for the month of February for Following the Masters of Michelle Burnett..
From the first letter in Robert Henri’s The Art Spirit I am reminded that: 1) you start with something you want to say about the subject, having defined for yourself what attracted you; 2) you retain this -- ‘preserve the moment of revelation’ -- working as much as possible from the memory of it; 3) you block in the larger masses first, and their relationship; 4) you fully comprehend the character of a feature before setting brush to canvas; 5) you work as quickly as possible, ‘there is no virtue in delay.’ Pondering these suggestions I find the idea of working from memory the most daunting.
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