From the Devon wing of the Louvre with all the Italian painters, an extrait of Orazio Samacchini’s painting, « Mercury Orders Énéide to Abandon Didon ». This is Didon and her little doggie, it’s part of a larger scene with a lot more people. I’ll have to try to sketch the others in the painting one day. I’m so excited about the next paintings that I’m going to copy. I’m doing this in hope to improve my eye and my drawing skills. I think I have tons of room for improvement. I would love to take lessons, but until I can, I will try to educate myself by study and practice.
Sculpture « Mercury kidnapping Psyché » by Adriaen de Vries, also in the Denon wing. This one didn’t turn out that great. I think it’s because 1. the scupture is dark and 2. the pose is complicated. My drawing is very stiff. Or maybe the sculpture is stiff ! On the bright side I met a bunch of really nice people, everyone was talking with me, which is fun! They were very encouraging, which every artist needs! I must work on dynamics more. Or what is another term for movement and weight?
Head Games, from sculpture in the Richelieu wing. Well, yesterday’s lesson at the Louvre didn’t go so well. Sometimes I feel that I am making progress and other times I seem to regress. Confidence and head space has a lot to do with my performance and in all parts of life. I’m really interested in the mental discipline of athletes, the power the mind has in phyiscal performance.
Todays’s lesson at the Louvre. Jean Simeon, “Le jeune dessinateur”. At first I was attracted to this image because thought it was a girl, a girl artist ! But my drawing didsn’t capture the androgynous quality. I was too much in a hurry, and I don’t know why. What did I learn from this lesson? That my impatience needs working on to get over! I didn’t spend enough time on checking my proportions. I was depending too much on how I already know how to draw faces. So I did tons of shading and decoration to hide my errors! So much revealed about my inner workings!
Help! I would love to have some critique on this one. Les trois grâces, the three muse, sculpture, done at the Sully wing of the Louvre. I think that I find it easier to draw from paintings as they are already flattened out. It’s easier for my eyes to translate to my brain to my hand. Speaking of flat, I read recently that monocromatic artists were trying to push the flatness of painting to it’s limit. BS or interesting theory?