2017.04.15-17 Week 16
This was a three day weekend since Monday is a national holiday in Italy. My three day weekend days were tedious and somewhat boring. First, I sprained my ankle so I can not do my usual 5+ miles a day and it is making me grumpy. Second, I am laser focused trying to get the Bargue #3 (Jupiter) finished. Working in the apartment is not ideal since the lighting is not uniform.
On Saturday I was exhausted and slept 12 hours-until nearly ten o’clock AM. I was able to walk (albeit slowly) to the study and collect my Bargue drawing and the necessary supplies. I was also able to get groceries for the week. In the evening I began reading The Self-Portrait, A Cultural History by James Hall. Here is the description from GoodReads:
This broad cultural history of self-portraiture brilliantly maps the history of the genre, from the earliest myths of Narcissus and the Christian tradition of “bearing witness” to the prolific self-image-making of today’s contemporary artists. Focusing on a perennially popular subject, the book tells the vivid history of works that offer insights into artists’ personal, psychological, and creative worlds. Topics include the importance of the medieval mirror craze in early self-portraiture; the confessional self-portraits of Titian and Michelangelo; the mystique of the artist’s studio, from Vermeer to Velazquez; the role of biography and geography for serial self-portraitists such as Courbet and Van Gogh; the multiple selves of modern and contemporary artists such as Cahun and Sherman; and recent developments in the era of globalization. Comprehensive and beautifully illustrated, the book features the work of a wide range of artists including Beckmann, Caravaggio, Durer, Gentileschi, Ghiberti, Giotto, Goya, Kahlo, Kauffman, Magritte, Mantegna, Picasso, Poussin, Raphael, Rembrandt and Van Eyck. The full range of the subject is explored, including comic and caricature self-portraits, “invented” or imaginary self-portraits, and important collections of self-portraiture such as that of the Medici.
Sunday was spent all day working on the Bargue until about 6:30 when the light changed too much. I took a short walk to test out the ankle and it is, in fact, on the mend. I am hopeful by next weekend I can make up some milage. Monday was a national holiday which I also spent on my Bargue.
2017.04.18-21 Trimester 2 Week 2
This week also saw the start of a 3 week pose and the completion of my final Bargue (Jupiter) which took more or less than five weeks to complete. I am proud that I picked the “hardest” Bargue and finished in such a short time. (My first tri-mester Bargue teacher took 11 weeks to do the same drawing. Caveat: his was superior to mine in many ways). It was an intense experience and one that I am
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- Nicole Lande
not eager to repeat within the near future. My second teacher, Nicole Lalande was a nice complement to my first term teacher, Ashish Kumar Patel. They have different teaching styles. Ashish likes to “demonstrate” technique on the drawing; Nicole prefers to point out options and give you verbal instructions on what to observe, fix or modify. Her technique suggestions were also very helpful. I am please I had two instructors—especially for this, the most difficult, Bargue.
Here is my completed Bargue with some close up (1.5X life size for details):
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