Sunday, April 24, 2011

"Water Nymphs" after Edward Henry Potthast


"Water Nymphs"after Edward Henry Potthast
(4x4") - 201121
Subscribe now to receive my newsletter, "Even More".
I knew I'd eventually get around to study at least one of Potthast's scenes of youngster's in their birthday suits. And now that I have, I intend to do more of them. Of note - I did some research on signing paintings. Mostly looking for a solution on how to sign a thick & juicy palette knife piece. Didn't get an answer to that, but did read some interesting stuff about "the artist's signature" - which leads me to making a decision about signing these studies. The paintings are clearly copies (hate how that sounds - but let's face it....) of another artist's work. In every way except for one. If you look closely at separate areas in Will's work (let's take a body part for example), you see numerous brush strokes of color that are varying degrees of temperature from cool to warm, but in the same value range. In mine, I have mostly chosen only two temperatures of the same color, and applied them very directly. The small size, of course, wouldn't allow for more than two strokes, unless I was using a teeny tiny brush (yick). Just the same, these scenes wholly belong to Mr. Potthast and I will not be adding my Joan Hancock to them on the front. I will, however, make sure to sign the backs with my name as well as: 'after WHP'.
I also want to to address composition here. I am well aware that at dead center of the painting are joined hands of the girl on the left, and the girl in the back. And a bit lower than this are joined hands of the girl on the left and the girl on the right. What's more, there's a fair amount of emptiness around this area because of the lack of any detail in the water. This is an example of not nailing down a mix of color whose value relates very well to those surrounding it. I decided to leave it as it was because changing it carried a very high risk of ruining things altogether. I feel the painting has enough other virtue that the trade off was worth it.
Contact me regarding purchase & commission requests. Unless otherwise noted, listed prices are offered to my subscribed blog members. If you are interested in purchasing a painting, but are not yet subscribed, simply enter your email address in the join box on my home page. As a subscriber you will receive special values on your purchases and periodic promotions will give you the opportunity to enjoy my paintings in real life at even more affordable prices!

No comments:

Post a Comment