A Copy After Picasso

Copy After Picasso's "Nude and Still Life, c. 1931" Oil on canvas 18" x 12" © 2011 Marilyn Fenn
Copy After Picasso’s “Nude and Still Life, c. 1931″ Oil on canvas 18″ x 12” © 2011 Marilyn Fenn

On Google+, a very vibrant community of artists has been growing all summer and fall.  A challenge was proposed to do a study after Picasso or an interpretation of one or more of his works.  While most of the other artists did an interpretation, I chose to copy this delightful painting of Picasso’s.  Perhaps I am trying to make up for two copies I never completed in art school.

When I first found this work online, I thought it looked like a cartoon version of a Picasso painting, or what Picasso would paint if he were painting a cartoon version of his own work.  It is such a fun image, I couldn’t resist!

I couldn’t find this painting in any of my books on Picasso.  Online, there are many copies of this painting, but they are all different in how the colors are displayed.  I finally found what I can only guess to be a fairly accurate version, which I found at this website, at the far end of row 7: Picasso paintings.  This image seems less manipulated to me than many of the others online (for instance, you can see the cracks in the paint very clearly) and the colors strike me as being more representative of what colors would have been available to Picasso at that time.  However, I’m no expert, so don’t take what I say as definitive.

Even though this painting displays practically the whole spectrum of the color palette, I think Picasso used only 8 or 9 colors to mix that whole spectrum. These are the colors I decided to use to attempt to replicate this Picasso work:

  1. flake white
  2. ivory black
  3. cadmium yellow lemon
  4. cadmium yellow medium
  5. cadmium red medium
  6. alizarin crimson
  7. ultramarine blue
  8. cobalt blue
I also used a smidge of cadmium green to green up the shape in the lower right-hand corner, though now I think he may have gotten that brighter green mix with cerulean blue instead.
my guess about Picasso's color palette
The 8 colors I think Picasso used in Nude and Still Life, c. 1931

I did try to mix my colors to match his exactly, and now that I am able to view a photo of my painting next to the work I was using for reference, I see some differences; but overall, I think it’s pretty close.

I also tried to match the way he applied paint, though as I painted this whole thing in two days, and my paint was wet throughout the whole process, I wasn’t really able to replicate what I think he did. For example, I think he may have begun with the black lines and then painted the colored areas afterward, as you can see quite a few areas where the colors are painted over the black lines, leaving just a tiny bit of black peeking out from under the edges. I painted the colored areas in first, as I knew it would cause a terrible mess if the colored paint ran into the still wet black lines.

There are areas, though, where he very clearly painted white lines to cover black lines. I think he probably did this for the purposes of the design of this canvas, as once the white lines are applied, it really changes how the whole image reads, plus they help pull your eye around the canvas, from the head down what I think is an arm, around the–are they breasts?–then a hop to the white lines through the blue areas down to the bottom left and center of the canvas.

Picasso's “Nude and Still Life, c. 1931″
Picasso’s “Nude and Still Life, c. 1931″
My copy After Picasso’s “Nude and Still Life, c. 1931″
My copy After Picasso’s “Nude and Still Life, c. 1931″

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Has copying this Picasso helped me understand him? I don’t know; I do feel like I understood his process of painting this painting, though I still cannot figure out what all the parts of this painting are and what they belong to. Wall, floor, chair rail and baseboard, pitcher, head and eyes, I get; the rest is a mystery to me. If anyone knows more about what Picasso did in this work, what he meant, or how to read his image, I would be delighted to hear.

If you’d like to see all the other artists’ interpretations of Picasso, you can find them here on Google+.

New Painting: The Woobie Offers Up Advice

"The Woobie Offers Up Advice" Oil on Canvas 16" x 12" © 2011 Marilyn Fenn
“The Woobie Offers Up Advice” Oil on Canvas 16″ x 12″ © 2011 Marilyn Fenn

I did this painting a few weeks ago, right after my first white rabbit painting, “The Woobie Contemplates Revenge.”  From a strictly artistic point of view, I was interested in continuing painting white on white and seeing what I could do with that.  I particularly like how fuzzy his fuzzy legs appear in the final work.  There’s more to this painting than just that, though.  I hope you can appreciate it.  We live in interesting times…

New Painting: The Woobie Contemplates Revenge

"The Woobie Contemplates Revenge" Oil on canvas 10" x 10" © 2011 Marilyn Fenn
“The Woobie Contemplates Revenge” Oil on canvas 10″ x 10″ © 2011 Marilyn Fenn

Painting white things is really fun and challenging.  For this painting, I placed a white rabbit stuffed animal in a white box and lit it from two sides: one a warm light, which casts a cool shadow, and one a cool light, which casts a warm shadow.  So in this white on white painting, the colors come mostly from the shadows cast by the lights.

I enjoyed this challenge so much, that I’m planning more work featuring “The Woobie,” as well as more white on white paintings.  Luckily, the Woobie has a little family, so they could keep me busy for a while.

New Painting: Hare Skin Rug (Bugs Bunny)

"Hare Skin Rug" Oil on canvas 8" x 8" © 2011 Marilyn Fenn
“Hare Skin Rug” Oil on canvas 8″ x 8″ © 2011 Marilyn Fenn

Until my painting of Marvin the Martian a few days ago, I went nearly two weeks without painting (argh!) — quite an interruption in this almost daily schedule I’m trying to keep to.

We went to Oregon for a week, which was wonderful!  We went for my brother’s wedding and then traveled around just a bit down the coast: walked for hours on beaches in Cannon Beach and Newport, and from the balcony of our hotel room in Newport, we watched whales surfacing off in the distance under a sunset.  We saw a lot of art in Eugene and Portland and ate too much pretty good food.

It was also the first time we took an airplane in 6 years.  We are trying to reduce our carbon footprint, and so have been traveling by train since 2005, but as much as we prefer train travel, it just didn’t make sense for this trip.   The plane trips were not as bad as I feared; no crashes, no trouble with the TSA, no lost luggage, and only one really late flight (storms in Denver), though we did have to forfeit a bottle of water and a Leatherman.  The clouds were awesome, which I really enjoyed (I take lots of photos of clouds from planes whenever I do fly).

I also came down with the worst case of allergies I’ve ever had, which I’m finally almost over after two weeks.

Plus, I got an illustration gig while I was vacationing that required me to spend two 14-hour days upon our return drawing illustrations for a book publishing company in London (and two days in recovery from staying up late drawing with a mouse!).

So, I’m feeling the interruption, but trying to get back into the swing of things.  For this painting, I decided to paint something soft.   This is a small stuffed Bugs Bunny toy.  I used only 4 colors in this painting: white, cadmium red, thalo turquoise, and—just for the eyes—black.  I attempted to use very few, yet descriptive, brushstrokes; standing as far away from the easel as possible while still allowing my hand and brush to reach the canvas.  I think I succeeded in not overworking it, but did I underwork it?  I’m not totally sure.

New Painting: “You Earthlings Have Made Me Very Angry”

"You Earthlings Have Made Me Very Angry" Oil on canvas 8" x 8" © 2011 Marilyn Fenn
“You Earthlings Have Made Me Very Angry” Oil on canvas 8″ x 8″ © 2011 Marilyn Fenn

I love Marvin the Martian.  He’s probably my favorite cartoon character of all time (though Bugs Bunny is a very close contender, and some new 3D characters, such as Rango, are quite fabulous as well).  However, Marvin’s been with me since I was a kid.  I’ve drawn him, made a 3D model of him, made a tiny and very short animated 3D film of him with a spaceship of his (that I also designed and modeled), I’ve dressed as Marvin for Halloween, and now I’ve finally painted him.

I was hoping that if I painted a slightly larger object than the little 1.25″ – 1.5″ characters I painted before our vacation, it would help me loosen up some.  Maybe it did, a little; maybe not as much as I’d like.  I think I need to paint soft things next.  But I am very happy with how Marvin came out.  He does look almost exactly like the little plastic toy I used as a model.

Marvin is painted on a 1.25″ deep gallery-wrapped canvas, and this time, I’ve painted the sides the same blue as the negative space (or background).

New Painting: Fifteen Minutes for a Quarter

"Fifteen Minutes for a Quarter" Oil on canvas 5" x 5" © 2011 Marilyn Fenn
“Fifteen Minutes for a Quarter” Oil on canvas 5″ x 5″ © 2011 Marilyn Fenn

This is the third and final little rubber robot toy; this one is kind of a speed racer.  He was both hard and fun to paint.  He’s very small and yet full of so much detail, but the detail is so tiny, it’s hard to discern.  His little face is actually not very detailed and kind of strange-looking.  Each of these little guys is in fact a slightly different color; one is more bright green, one more army green, and this one is in-between bright and army green.

I aimed again for looseness with these last two paintings; it continues to be a struggle to overcome 20 years of painting habits, but I’m not unhappy with these.

New Painting: It Was This Big!

"It Was This Big!" Oil on canvas 5" x 5" © 2011 Marilyn Fenn
“It Was This Big!” Oil on canvas 5″ x 5″ © 2011 Marilyn Fenn

This is the second of three little rubber robot toys that have accompanied me on my desktop computers for at least the past 15 years.  (Don’t tell the other two, but this guy is my favorite of the three).  His posture kind of reminds me of Kevin Kline’s character in “Dave,” hence the title.

New Painting: Et Tu Klaatu?

"Et Tu Klaatu?" Oil on canvas 5" x 5" © 2011 Marilyn Fenn
“Et Tu Klaatu?” Oil on canvas 5″ x 5″ © 2011 Marilyn Fenn

With last night’s painting I am asking myself if what I am trying to achieve is looser and better brushwork while standing at arm-plus-brush length from the canvas, why am I using little toys for models that are sometimes as small as 1-1.5 inches high?   I can barely see them from my vantage point, and find that I do have to move in closer from time to time.

On the other hand, I am really enjoying painting paintings of these little toys, even though their tiny size is not as conducive to my loosening up as, say, a basket of apples would be.  Well, it’s all a process, and with each new (almost) daily painting, I learn a little more or gain a little confidence.  Tonight, I was quite pleased with a few really good brushstrokes, and sometimes, that’s enough.  🙂

As with all of my small still life paintings here, it is painted on a 1.25″ deep gallery wrapped canvas with the sides painted black, so it is ready to hang on a wall, without a frame (it would also look great in a floater frame).

New Painting: Catfish (pepper shaker)

"Catfish" Oil on canvas 6″ x 6″ © 2011 Marilyn Fenn
“Catfish” Oil on canvas 6″ x 6″ © 2011 Marilyn Fenn

Finally, here is the companion to the Catbird painting!  I aimed to keep this as fresh as possible, trying to define each patch of color with as few brushstrokes as possible.  My goal was one brushstroke per patch of color, and I can’t say I achieved that 100%, but maybe 85-90%.  I think the fish lips came out particularly well.  🙂

I had this lit with two lights – one from each direction (due to my still life and palette setup), and I think that was one light too many, or the placement could have been better.  I would have preferred that the object’s roundness was better defined through light and shadow, as with the Catbird, but I didn’t notice it until I compared the two paintings after finishing this one (rolleyes).  Next time…