Recently when I was in Spain- (actually it was far too long ago…seems like a distant memory)
Anyway- i did some variations of “Las Meninas” by Velasquez. By variations I mean that i did some studies from the painting without trying to make it look like Velzquez, but more of an investigative nature…
To find out how it was put together, I suppose. Looking at it through different lenses.
What i really enjoyed was Velasquez’s sense of rhythm, how he connected all those figures
and also how he got away with the scale of the thing …all that space above the figures!
in that space and with those proportions he simultaneously gave a sense of grandeur of the surroundings but also the human scale of the people in realationship to those lofty ceilings…they may be the Infanta and her hand maidens but they are just people.( and anyway The artist on the left TOWERS over all of them..he was naughty, Velasquez! Even putting himself in the picture was pretty daring… i mean does the royal portraitist these days put himself in the frame…hardly)
Talking about rhythms..look at the connecting curves which link all the figures through the details on the dresses
Picasso did 38 variations of this work and they are in the Picasso museum in Barcelona and well worth a quiet contemplative visit( preferably alone…you have to hand over the time to absorb this kind of thing…well…go with a quiet friend anyway)
This is one of the works that Picasso did from Las Meninas…
SO
what i suggest for this term is
We settle down to do some explorations of other artists work..
i will bring some examples in for day one and we will do some explorations of their compositions through different lenses..
Then for day two
we will do the same for artists who YOU have chosen…
everyone has an image or two lurking round in the files that they have said about
HMMMMM
i will paint that one day
it might be…the field at the farm where the wild pig lurks( but other than that is aesthetically interesting ! )
though one simply must channel the wild pigs here…great to give a sense of danger
The grandchildren at Shakespeare in the park (easier) think Mary Cassatt or <Manet or even (childless) Degas
Monet had lots of progeny (helpful)
either way
you have an image that you can half see as a painting
the reason you haven’t painted it yet is that you haven’t found the way in.
(either that or you are pathelogically lazy) i understand this…but do not beat yourself up about this…everything has its time… albeit late
Variations can help with this
you can learn a lot from how others have treated your subject matter..
however
it is enough to copy another artists work
what we set out to do (this term) is not copy assiduously… as in grid up or get serious about getting it exact
what we plan to do
is basically a freehand(for want of a better term ….exploration of another artists work…which will help us find a way in to paint our”always wanted to paint that” image
so we will choose our image we want to paint
we will find another artist who has painted a similar subject matter and whoM WE ADORE AND HATE in the same breath….
and we will learn from him…JUST how he did it…painterly espionage if you like
what he found
the lies he told
the things HE learned
and then
what YOU found
these are like jewels…you secret them away..
should be a good term