Saturday, January 23, 2010

in progress

This is how far I've gotten on the "Shadows" painting. I decided to stop working on the head and filled in the rest to bring everything up to the same intensity. I still have several places to work on, the thread holder "thingie" in the left front, the tapestry, the bottom half and top half of the mirror have only one coat. There should be a couple walking on the grass, a lantern hanging near the mirror, and a tree. If you want to see the original google John William Waterhouse Shawdows. I still don't have a good likeness for the Lady, but I'll get back to her.

3 comments:

  1. Dawn:

    You don't pick easy works to copy. I looked at John William Waterhouse's works (including Shadows). I very much like his work. Your new face is very much better than the initial one I saw. I used face length (from jawline up to the hairline) as a unit of measure and found that the number of units from the line above the billows on her right arm to the bottom of the ribbon low on her waist --to be nearly the same in your painting and in William's painting. I did a similar measuring and found the width of your woman's face to be close to the original but a little wider than the original. I'm very sure your neck is too wide which can easily be cut back. Check the angle of the left side of the face. Also, it seems that hairline hairline peek should be adjusted. The original seems to have greater hair mass on her right side. You've done a great job with drawing and perspective of other objects in the painting. William probably took weeks and weeks to paint this portrait. It's amazing how much you have accomplished in a much shorter time period. Take care.

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  2. I forgot to mention the colors you are using. Terrific!!! You know I'm a contrast freak. I love the complementary colors you are using (red-orange gown and the blue in the cloth and background).

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  3. Your version is always better than the original, as long as it is more yours than not.. Don't copy; but feel free to interpret! Allowing that which inspires to drive you to create works of your own is okay, but an artist never strives to match another, they only work to fulfill their own inherent burning bleeding aching need to 'create'. But, you already knew that, didn't you..?

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