Studying Under the Maters-Week 1 Update 2-Matisse

Hello Lifers!

I wanted to give a quick little update on my "Studying with the Masters: Becoming an Apprentice" class.

I am still in week one, even though week 6 just posted, and I am OK with that. I feel like if I tried to push to do a week of videos in a week, then I would be missing out on a lot of personal growth. (1 section of videos was 2 videos an hour each...definitely don't have that much time "free" in one day! LOL) So...I'm taking my time. 

As you know, this Week 1 has been all about Matisse and we were asked to "copy" his 1901 masterpiece "La Coiffure."

Here is the original painting of Matisse's wife:

Here are a few step-by-steps of my progress:

First we were asked to do a charcoal sketch. 

Then came the first layer, starting with the darker values. (NOTE: Matisse worked in oils on canvas, but I chose to work with acrylics on watercolor paper.)

Next came the first layers of the flesh tones.

Then...I got frustrated with the skin tones, so I decided to tackle all the color surrounding her body. 

Without having a "Matisse Manual" that says "mix 2 parts this and 3 parts that with healthy dose of titanium white" it was very difficult to figure out that colors he used. It also took looking a little deeper because if you look at the original, there are grays and blues and greens along with the yellows and pink of normal flesh tones. 

Ready for MY finished "La Coiffure?"

All in all...I am very happy with it. Jeanne Oliver made a good point during the last video...we could all spend hours and hours playing with our paintings, trying to get them "just right," but then we would be falling in to the trap of trying to make an exact copy, instead of just learning from the process.

For me, being able to look at it and see that it is NOT perfect and be OK with that...well...that is a HUGE mental accomplishment for someone who tends to lean towards the perfectionist side of things. 

As you can tell, I am learning so much about myself and my art through this class and it's only WEEK 1!

There is more to come on my journey and I hope you will continue to take the ride with me.

Until next time friends...choose to make your art intentional..not an afterthought. 

XOXO,

KERI