Art Around the Corner

While I was working on the Goya in the last post, the folks in charge of NGA's Art Around the Corner program came by to ask if I might be interested in doing some sessions with the students in the January session. I was thrilled to accept, because this program is an opportunity to make a real difference in some kids' lives through art. The NGA partners with DC Public Schools to bring 4th and 5th graders into the Gallery several times a year, not just to look at the art, but to participate in artmaking as they learn to see the world through artists' eyes. It is one of the most gratifying experiences I have had as a painter. To learn more about this program and to see it in action, here's a video made in 2011 which shows how it happens:  https://www.nga.gov/audio-video/video/art-around-the-corner.html

The project this time was portraiture, and the organizers chose this fantastic Van Gogh portrait as the point of departure. My role was to discuss the artist with the kids, give them a chance to talk about what they saw in the painting, and to demonstrate for them how a copyist works to re-create a painting in real time. I worked with several groups over the course of two days, and in addition to Vincent, we talked about other portraitists both within the NGA and without. I discussed Amy Sherald's incredible portrait of Michelle Obama which hangs at the Smithsonian NPG. Many of them had seen it, and all of them lit up when shown an image of that painting. This session happened during the aftermath of George Floyd's murder. One of Amy Sherald's driving principles is that skin color is what we make of it. Her portraits have skin tones greyed out, making the point that we are all the same color, just different shades of light and dark. 

As for Vincent, he's green--and the kids took that idea and ran with it. I wish I had images of their work, which truly turned out far superior to my own. Below is my setup for the first session and near completion on the second day. 

   

This was February 2020. I was already seeing more international visitors wearing masks, and was just starting to wonder how concerned I should be about Covid, since as a Copyist, I was constantly engaged with people in the gallery, having animated discussions about my work, the art and the artists--my favorite part of the job. Then a month later, official lockdown began, and everything closed down. Even now I don't know if this program was reinstated after things opened up again. My husband and I left DC after a full year of hard isolation, just as soon as we were vaccinated. 

I hope that this won't turn out to have been the last time I set foot in the National Gallery, or the last time I paint there. It is the last time for the foreseeable future. Here's a photo from happier times. 

Photo credit: Sandra J Cohen (a great portraitist)

Goya, Phillips, Cezanne

 

This is Goya's portrait of Bartolome Sureda y Miserol, from 1803-4. My version is near completion here, I did change the aspect ratio just a bit. The subject was a friend of Goya's, and was quite an ambitious and interesting person. This was the penultimate painting I did as a copyist, finished December 2019. While working on this, I was asked to do a commission of a painting attributed to John Phillips, with only a poor-resolution photo for reference. The painting (on linen panel) turned out well, and the clients became good friends. Completed just before lockdown began in 2020.

There was one more NGA painting that I started in January 2020, Cezanne's "Houses in Provence: Riaux Valley near L'Estaque". I had finished the underpainting in raw sienna, when a visitor to the NGA fell in love with it just as it was, so I happily sold it to her since I knew I needed a break. 

catching our breath

It's a different world than it was when I last posted here over two years ago. The pandemic started, and since I was living in DC (one of the highest rates of infection in the country); being in a high-risk group, I was in hard lockdown for over a year. My painting and teaching at the National Gallery came to a halt, along with everything else. My husband's work also ceased, and we made plans to return to Southern California as soon as we could get vaccinated and travel safely. 

Now, after 8 months back in San Diego, we're still at risk despite being vaccinated and boosted, so we are adapting. I miss the work that I loved so much at the NGA: painting, interacting with visitors from all over the world, working with DC Public School Elementary students in the Art Around the Corner program, painting commissions...all gone. My brother very nearly died of Covid (pre-vaccine) but fortunately he survived. Some dear friends did not. Nearly a million people in the US have been lost to this virus. We can't long for a return to normal, because that normal is gone. It's a different world now. 

For a long time, making any kind of art was out of the question. For many creatives, this has been a terrible time. I took down my website. I still have all my oil painting materials, but still can't bear to look at them. Instead, what feels hopeful is change...as in every aspect of life. I've dabbled in watercolor over the years--some attempts are posted here--but never reached the level of expression that I wanted in that medium. I always said that I have a love-hate relationship with watercolor: I love it, it hates me. That's about to change.

Now that no one's watching (since I'm not posting), I can really delve into how this medium works and try to find my voice in it. In art school, watercolor was not a medium that got any respect, so we just didn't talk about it. That's okay. Finding one's way in a medium is always personal, no matter how much instruction one receives. 

As I find my way, I'll post some exercises here and share experience. First though, I'll catch up a little with some of the last work that I did at the National Gallery, just to close that out. I've documented my painting life on this blog since 2005, so I'll fill in the gap and then, move on.