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Caravaggio's, Judith. Well a try at it anyway.
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Message
Posted
I haven't posted a WIP, for a while. I haven't done a portrait for a while and I was really enjoying doing them. I'm learning by copying the Masters. I love Caravaggio's work, he is my absolute favourite. I am mesmerized by his paintings and I'm sure when people looked at them, when he painted them, way back when, they must have been totally astonished by them. Anyway, a task too big for an amateur. I can hear you saying and yes you are right. A task far to big but I like to challenge myself, even though, I know, there is a big possibility of failure but I'm having a crack anyway. I put a few coats of gesso on the canvas and a dark base coat on yesterday. I was up early this morning. I sketched the face in white charcoal pencil, it took a few hours because it was difficult to get what I thought looked right. I had put some extra lines in to indicate to myself a slight change in tone. Then when I was happy with the drawing, I thinned some Raw Umber, went over the drawing. Then added some shade, with the Umber. Painted around the image in black. Then I darkened some of the shade with black. I've left it there for today. I wanted to carry on really but have visitors calling. I think I lost a bit of the ear and I think the right cheek, may need to me made, slightly larger. I won't rush, I'll pace myself and try my best for Caravaggio, even as an amateur. Have a good Easter Sunday everyone. Think the nose will need working on also. 
Edited
by Denise Cat
Posted
This is from the painting in which she deprives Holofernes of his head, I think? I can see the painting in my mind's eye - and this looks pretty damn' good to me. You've got the look of revulsion together with steely determination, which presumably you need if you take to decapitation as a pastime.
Posted
I don't know if you know this - perhaps you do - but the methods you use are very similar to those pre-Impressionist painters might have employed (particularly suitable in this case). The laying-down of a monochrome layer, over the drawing (or the drawing on a monochrome layer, it doesn't matter, except the first method is slightly easier) was just what a lot of the old masters did. Some say they always used a Terre Verte base, picked out with Flake White, blended in monochrome, then glazed with transparent colours. Well a lot of them did - but their practices varied far more than that - what they had in common was the monochrome, finding the shapes, moulding their paint. Some used a red 'bole', others roughed features in with Umbers - the Impressionists tended to go straight in with full colour, though that varied too, I'm sure. There are one or two videos on YouTube of Tom Keating, showing how he'd make copies of, e.g. Rembrandt - I think a lot of the methods he advocated and practised were a LONG way away from what was really done in the past; even so - you might find it interesting to take a look at some of them. Following him too exactly would lead to very dark paintings, though - there's a lot to be said for leaving quite a bit of light in your first layers; oil painters do work from dark to light, watercolourists the other way around; but reserving, or taking out, some of the lights is quite important, in my ALWAYS humble opinion!
Posted
I didn't know Robert and It will be two years this month, I took up art. I must say, I have learned an enormous amount in that time, as you know, I work in watercolour, acrylic and pastel, so, I try to get a grasp of it all. In reality, I have only learned a small amount because of the great vastness of it all, still. a huge amount, when I didn't know nothing at all. When I am trying to copy something like this, I will read the traditional methods the artist used. Obviously, I can't do that because I don't know how but I will try and make it as close to traditional as I know how with my limited knowledge and ability. I really would have loved to have had the tools of the trade, if you know what I mean. I like doing something like this because, it makes me really focus. I think why I try so many subjects is because I haven't found that one subject or area or style, yet, that I want to devote my time too. I hope one day I can just be in a position to concentrate a bit more. I'm going in with the Flake White Hue, tomorrow. I must say, even though I haven't found my area yet, I really do love art.
Posted
I didn't get chance to work on it yesterday. I'm taking my time. Here is the reference picture, one that is in the Public domain.
I've obviously cropped it to get the bit, I am focusing on. I've gone in with flake white today, I'm not happy with any of the brushes, I've used seven of them for one colour. I need to invest in some decent brushes. For the shaded areas, I thinned the white with linseed, painted and blended, then blended a bit with my finger. I've shortened the shoulder a bit and straightened the neck line. I've gone over bit's where I shouldn't have because of my rubbish brushes and will have to refine areas as I go alone. I've not finished with the high light's yet but I'm finishing here for today, to take a fresh look tomorrow. Maybe it's not the brushes, a bad tradesman, always blames his tools, could be that.
I've obviously cropped it to get the bit, I am focusing on. I've gone in with flake white today, I'm not happy with any of the brushes, I've used seven of them for one colour. I need to invest in some decent brushes. For the shaded areas, I thinned the white with linseed, painted and blended, then blended a bit with my finger. I've shortened the shoulder a bit and straightened the neck line. I've gone over bit's where I shouldn't have because of my rubbish brushes and will have to refine areas as I go alone. I've not finished with the high light's yet but I'm finishing here for today, to take a fresh look tomorrow. Maybe it's not the brushes, a bad tradesman, always blames his tools, could be that.
Edited
by Denise Cat
Posted
It's slow going, I've altered the nose slightly, I noticed on the original painting the tip of the nose was just a bit longer than I had drawn it. The right side of the lip, I'm also adjusting as I go along. This is the first coat of very lean colours going on that I'm just in the process of blending and bring back more of the detail.