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Caravaggio's lost works.
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Message
Posted
I started a freehand sketch, I'll be practising the sketch for a few weeks. I wanted to know if I would have difficulty with the intermingling arms and legs. I did know my first attempt would be rubbish, that's not phasing me, I know with practice I'll produce a decent sketch. Of course, I know scaling up and painting it is a different thing. I feel you really have to get a feel for the sketch and come to know it. In a few weeks I will compare the sketching I do of it, then move on to the next step. Don't laugh, you can if you want. I'll get there, slowly but surely.
Posted
Yes no problem, but you’ll find Ken Howard’s demo of scaling up/down really helpful. It’s a really simple process once you’ve mastered it.
If you’re going to do this masterpiece justice, it does need to be accurate… I can’t stress that enough!
Get the basics like drawing out correct from the start and you’ll reap the benefits later on.
Posted
I admire your ambition - as others have said, and I don't really need to repeat (but you know me: gabby...) you must get the proportions of the picture right - nothing is more frustrating than finding yourself having to make all kinds of adjustments because your whole picture plane is out of kilter. I don't often grid and scale up or down, but when I 'couldn't be bothered', arrogantly assuming I could just do it by sight - I lost my subject's feet. Fortunately, I'd kept my original sketch, and was able to start again.
Caravaggio generally painted BIG - many of the old masters did - scaling their works down without careful thought and planning can lead to quite awful, cramped results of the sort that make the sarcastic among us retort to phrases like 'After Turner' with 'Yes; and a hell of a long way after'.
You do need room to paint a big canvas, incidentally: and a sturdy easel; but I'm not so sure you really need MUCH more room - what causes me to paint fairly small pictures is more storage issues and my own physical limitations than lack of studio space to actually paint the picture. I know that you have physical pain, as do I - and you might find a really big painting exhausting to the extent it robs you of any pleasure in doing it. But I got a few big canvases the other day, just to play with when I feel up to it - 60 x 80cm, HUGE for me: I wonder if I'll ever use them, but I sort of think I should .... YOU wouldn't hesitate!
Posted
Yes, you and Alan are so right, the only reason I've never bothered about scaling is because I never thought I would be taking painting so seriously when I took it up. I should be trying to do it, if that's what is done. I'm should hope the proportions are spot on if using a scaling method. I think my fish painting is 60 x 80 cm, something like that and I've done a few about that size. I won't rush through it and try to do it right. I like doing difficult pieces like this occasionally because it really grabs my focus and concentration and I learn most from going way out of my comfort zone. Is it achievable, is it not achievable, I have to try it to find out, that's how I think. As for the chronic pain Robert, well, you know, nothing much helps that, we learn to live with it like walking and talking, it becomes part of us, darn, we wish we didn't have it though.
Posted
Today while I've been running about, I tried to get a couple of images printed from my phone, just to try the grid method. Obviously it was just from one of those supermarket contraptions and a very nice lady helped me. I expected them to be poor quality but it's just for a bit of practice for scaling up using the grid method. Then my thought's turned to, where will I go to obtain a good image when I'm ready to start a scale up for putting on canvas. The problems didn't end there. I've been watching a few videos about scaling up and down. I grasped it easily enough. Then as I watch the actual drawings from various things I've watched, they didn't appear fluid. They were disjointed. I know the drawing is only a guide but I suddenly got the horrors if any of this is picked up in the painting. It is totally new to me, I don't think I ever considered art was ever produced that way. It's two steps forward and one step back. Of course I realise the importance of it in art and I am looking forward to trying it and producing an accurate drawing. This might be a step forward in the way I do paintings I fancy trying from the great list of masters we have rather than chancing it with freehand stuff. Maybe, I'll evolve another step in this journey. I know you are all right and the grid method is good, I just have to get on and do it. Which I plan tomorrow.
Edited
by Denise Cat
Posted
The photo's I printed off are difficult to work with because of the poor quality, they are so dark. The photo was 6" x 8" so I made a grid of 12" X 16". As you can see, I'm looking at the black and white photo I divided up into 1 inch squares. It's so dark, I'm looking at the coloured image, my own sketch and the picture on the net. I'm using a layout pad because I didn't have drawing paper that big. I'll be going to the art shop Monday to get one. You live and learn, it's a new process for me but I can already see that the proportions are looking much better. When I've done this, I'll do it again with a better image and decent drawing paper. I think I'll get use to this grid method. Thanks for all your advice.
