Loose Master Copy

The end of a big project is often like the end of a good book - you're really happy to get to the end, but it's also a bit sad. There's a mourning period afterwards. Figuring out what your next steps are can be tricky, but if you wait too long, nothing else seems quite up to the task. So I found some hi-res images of a few paintings by Richard Schmid - one of my favorite artists. So I figured I'd do a master copy of one of the portraits. Or rather, I'd get started on a copy. I didn't get through much of it. But It's a nice start. I've found that when working on a copy of something, it's important to me not to try to make an exact copy. Creating an exact copy can be a bit of a waste of time (at least it feels that way to me). I think it's more useful to find some aspect of the copy-ee (the subject) that appeals to you and try to capture the aspect that you admire. To learn how to do that thing a bit better. Steal that thing and make it your own. I liked the looseness of this portrait, so that was my focus. (Definitely not the eyes - he looks cross-eyed in my painting.) The last two portraits were more finished than this, and I really admire looseness in a portrait. So this was a good chance to loosen up again.

-ZR