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Here she is in all her glory: ready to take on the world. Below are a few shots of how she was made. We’ll start her off with visits to a few locations around here and then hopefully she will take a long trip. Any volunteers to help in her travels?
What an opportunity. Our little man is shipping out to Hungary (via Germany) this evening for a month long voyage culminating in Istanbul! His handler, Ron, plans all kinds of activities on this trip beginning with a steam bath and massage in a Budapest spa, an evening at the philharmonic, and dinner on the Danube. Perhaps an escape to Lake Balaton and wine country. After traversing Romania and Bulgaria with all their fantastic scenery and culture, he plans to alight in Istanbul for a stout cup of real coffee and later take in the sights. He has always had a weakness for Byzantine art. After that, a cruise along the Black Sea coast and catch the sunrise over the Golden Horn. I should have clear-coated him…
Note his silver glasses. When he gets back he is going to have green lenses fitted in the frames. I had no time this moring. Before I knew our little man was about to embark on a long trip throughout Eastern Europe I had planned to begin his world travels with local visits. He will visit the court house of every one of New Jersey’s 21 counties and get his picture taken there. I figured court houses usually make pretty landmarks. Once he gets back I will pick up where I left off and visit some more close by. After NJ is done it will be time to move to other states, but that’s planning way too far in the future. Behold: First Picture, Somerset Courthouse, Somerville NJ!
This new project consists of a set of little whittled wooden figurines of tourists which are going to be photographed all over the world. The idea is not new: you take a picture of an object everywhere you go on your travels, or ask people to take it along on theirs. People do this with spools of thread, pictures of friends, etc. I plan to make three or four figurines. That way, if any one of them gets lost, a replacement can be carved quickly. The first little tourist was completed this morning and is already heading out on his first trip, but more on that later. Below are pictures of his construction. I think the wood is basswood. He was then gessoed & painted with acrylics. I had no time to clear-coat him. I’ll finish him up when he gets back, if he makes it!
The picture seems to be done entirely in oils (though some passages or parts of the underpainting may contain tempera- but I don’t think so). Going into it I can predict that the most challenging parts will be maintaining consistency, matching colors and glaze combinations, and an accurate reading of the steps taken by the artist in painting certain parts (especially the fabric!). I was also encouraged to take on this exercise by a book by Eric Hebborn called “The Art Forger’s Handbook”. Of course, this is not a picture that I intend to pass off as the real thing… in fact I know it will not come close to a quality that is likely to deceive. But I hope that it will make a nice piece for the diningroom wall. If I pull this off I’ll even try to get it framed like the one it has in the museum. |
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The sky colors were matched and painted in. Once that dried the city was traced directly on with pencil, later outlined with paint, and then slowly built up to completion. I believe this part is going to be one of the hardest with the exception of the fabric and the faces. It is apparent already that keeping up absolute precision and consistency it the key to this whole thing. Once I start getting tired it is time to stop because things start getting sloppy. The impulse to let a mistake go and fix it later has to be resisted!!
I cut a 1/4″ masonite board to the dimensions of the model and cradled the panel from behind with standard oak bars. It was attached with regular pva wood glue. Once the panel was ready it was lightly sanded and sized with a coat of rabbit skin glue. On top of that came quite a few coats of gesso. Now it was ready to receive the drawing which was gridded and drawn in pencil. After locking in the graphite with a light mist of spray fixative, another couple coats of thin gesso were painted on to attenuate the lines.
I ran across this picture at the Philadelphia Museum of Art a few months back and decided that it would be a fun challenge to copy as accurately as possible. The original (below) is by the Master of the Legend of St Lucy, painted around 1482 in Bruges. You can see the contemporary skyline in the background. Once I decided on the picture I wanted to copy I returned to the museum with a camera and lots of memory. I photographed every inch of the surface- probably around 150 shots- with regular and closeup lenses. Many of the effects used by the painter need to be figured out, so extreme closeups are very helpful.