"Girl in Brown" 18 X 24"Most of you know know that I love Uncle Henri, but rarely paint like him. He's not really an influence, it's true, but I admire his preoccupation with design, structure and pictorial harmony, sharing as I do a quite Gallic concern for formal pictorial problems.
I took this from the drawing below, which my friend M.H. was kind enough to sit for. I may not be able to capture all her earthy Persian beauty on canvas (yet), but it's fun to try. I made her look kinda Japanese here, and, as she has a deep affinity for Japanese culture and art, it's appropriate. (M.H. is a pretty incredible and versatile artist in her own right, and if she ever gets her own website up, I'll be posting a link to it here... .)
The colours are not as daring as Matisse, and the textures are all me as well, but I tried to get at his line a bit. I almost wish I had to correct a little more--to make it more like his style during the '20s. but I was happy with the under drawing from the get-go. I did have to re-harmonize the background yellow and a few other bits, and I admit the colour is not one of the strengths of this piece--but I like it a lot.
I'd like to continue to explore the theme of tribute paintings to artists I admire. Seems to be a productive thing for me.
Have been doing a few good figure drawings lately. Life drawing certainly helps. I want to be one of those painters who actually can draw.
No comments:
Post a Comment