Sylvette, Six Decades Later - Part 3

It's an episode of "How the Hen House Turns"....

My big guy discovered that part of the fencing that keeps our chickens in their part of the back yard had fallen down. And sure enough, our chickens were where they weren't supposed to be. Those rascally girls have had a bad habit of going under our shed and laying eggs way out of our reach. Not cool, ladies. And Dave and I have definitely noticed an egg shortage lately. So now we have to decide how badly we want to get those eggs if they're under the shed, if they're even edible after having been outside for several days, who is going to take one for the team and get all dirty for the retrieval, and, most importantly, if it's even worth it to avoid the likely stank that will ensue come the warm months if they're left as is.

Stay tuned.....


And I completed this painting. This was so much fun! When I first looked at it I thought it'd be "easier" than painting a realistic face. Well, it had it own level of trickiness, too. The thing is, everything is just made up of shapes. And if you break them down by individual shapes it's much more approachable. The shapes with this one were extra fun and, well, super "shape"ly!

"Sylvette, Six Decades Later"

I had done the criss cross marks on the "chair"
but then I decided that I didn't like the color
of green I'd mixed so I redid it.

I added a lot of details to her face
and a bit to her jacket.

I added a lot of highlighting marks throughout.

I added additional strokes to her ponytail.

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Sylvette, Six Decades Later - Part 2

I'm feeling very clever. At our house there's always a battle to get to the cold fizzy waters in the fridge first. Everyone wants to drink them, but no one wants to put new ones in when we're running low. No one except for me, that is. Well I love a fizzy water as much as everyone else, and I've come up with a fabulous solution. There are a couple of "odd" flavors that the rest of the family simply don't like (they're lemon or lime purists). So if I stock some flavors such as "peach pear" or "mango" I'm always sure to have a fizzy water available. Yup, feeling mighty clever...and hydrated!


I continued working on this painting. I'm loving the geometric nature of this piece.

I added a tint to the background. I also painted
the chair green. Now I'd never have known that
it was a "chair" so I'm super glad that was part
of the lesson. 

I realized that I should have left her hair white.
Part of Picasso's painting is scratching through
black/gray paint in order to reveal the white
underneath. So I painted over her hair so
I'd have that color underneath to work with.

I used a fingernail tool to scratch into the black
I'd painted over the white. This was FUN!
I also began darkening parts of the background.

I continued darkening the background and
added some yellow splotches as well.

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Sylvette, Six Decades Later - Part 1

It's a funny thing finding myself basically copying the works of masters. I love doing it because I'm learning so, so, so much. And it's definitely improving my own skills. But I found myself worrying about it just a bit. Until I was shown this quote, that is.

From an excerpt from "Copying Masterpieces" by Jose M. Parramon.

"And in just about every gallery and museum one comes across artists, both amateur and professional, who copy masterpieces in order to become better artists themselves. There is nothing new or strange about this. Raphael studied by copying the works of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Rubens was fascinated by Caravaggio's dramatic use of light and shade, and copied his "Burial of Christ". Degas was a frequent visitor at the Louvre. He copied the work of Velazquez, whom he greatly admired, and of Rembrandt, Giotto, Titian, Bellini, and especially Poussin. Manet had heard so much about Velazquez and Goya that he traveled to Spain, to Madrid's Prado Museum, for the sole purpose of acquainting himself with the way those artists handled figures and heads."

Well, my skill level certainly doesn't match any of them, but I do feel that I'm in good company. Right now I'm continuing to study Picasso. This is my version of something he painted in 1954.

I sketched the picture on canvas with a pencil.

I started by adding some basic colors.

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Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

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