The Small Cowper Madonna (detail)
oil on paper
Raphael
Challenge #11
Well, here it is. Whew. Very nerve wracking posting this. So not in my comfort zone, but that is good, right?
I have been talking about attempting portraits because they fascinate me, but I have just not been able to motivate myself. I have really been struggling, since our rotten stinkin' car accident, to get my head in the game again, but I have been only moderately successful. I just can't seem to get a clear focus. As well, there have been other distractions (child related) that have definitely kept my head space cloudy. If I could just get away from drama I would be a happy gal. Anyways, while I flounder around waiting for focus to return, I thought it would be a great time to try an online challenge. When I saw the Following The Masters blog for the first time a few weeks ago I thought that it might be something I could get interested in depending what the next challenge was. Sure enough, when Michelle (the FTM blog creator) announced that the inspiration for Challenge #11 was The Italian Renaissance I knew I could find something to work with. I loved this period when I studied Art History many moons ago. And my favorite artist for a long time was Raphael. So I pulled out some gorgeous old textbooks that I kept from my studies and chose this beautiful Madonna. I decided to only work on a detail of the actual painting for a few reasons: 1) I haven't done a portrait since first year university, so I didn't want to make my comfort zone even less comfortable by having to paint two portraits! And b) I didn't want to commit a crazy amount of time to the project. (Humph, upon reading that back, maybe my lack of motivation really has more to do with laziness! I guess I have something to think about!)
As much as I know it does not look like the face of Raphael's Madonna, I am excited I tried this challenge and I learned a lot in the process. And I used oils for this, not acrylics! I definitely have lots to learn about colour mixing and, where oil paint is concerned, how to keep the colours looking clear and not muddy. So while I tread water in artistic No Man's Land waiting for focus to return, maybe I will try to follow a few other portrait masters like Fred Varley or John Singer Sargent and get some learnin' done.
