Master of the Month #29 - Sept/Oct 2006 (Amedeo Modigliani)

[cmac]

Hi everyone

This forum is fantastic!
I have been painting for about 3 months. Found the WetCanvas site when I started. I have tried various media (watercolour, acrylic & oil) and I prefer oils. I have been watching this Modigliani MOM since it started and love his work - I haven't started anything yet, but I thought I would post this as a committment to do something.

Chris

[SallyAnn]

Aww thank you Bernie, you know my addiction to Modi.. no matter what else I see, and really love, I come back to Modi..can't really explain it... I will try and get a bigger pic of the landscape, and better colour.. lets see what this camera can do! The greens and the buildings are so much brighter than the photo shows.. and Im not sure how I can get it happening!

June .. I have never really gotten into landscapes, but thought it would be ok to try a small one.. I wish I had gone bigger, as I do enjoy using bigger canvas. I don;t think I have the patience for smaller pics.. but then Bernies 8 x 10 blew me away! Cant wait to see what you come up with. Will you try the Modi one, or something else?

Chris HI !! Welcome to WC and the Modi thread. Where in CHCH are you? Up until 3.5 yrs ago.. I was in Shirley, Christchurch.. a few mins walk from "The Palms" shopping area. I found WC way after I first started trying to paint, and I like to believe that I have improved thanks to the info and help here.
Jump in.. and go for it I say!

[ujwala]

Bernie - your nude is absolutely fabulous! love the colors too is the "livie" work going to allow you to do more of modis?

Sallyann - as bernie says you've cracked this guy i dont think i've done landscapes and yours is inspiring me to try it out too. btw the nude doesnt look stumpy.

Chris - welcome - wetcanvas is what kept me going when i first started a couple of years ago.

[artbyjune]

Hi Chris and welcome to wetcanvas.

BTW, Sally Ann, I lived in Auckland for 13 years during the 80's.

[guillot]

Originally Posted by cmac

Hi everyone

This forum is fantastic!
I have been painting for about 3 months. Found the WetCanvas site when I started. I have tried various media (watercolour, acrylic & oil) and I prefer oils. I have been watching this Modigliani MOM since it started and love his work - I haven't started anything yet, but I thought I would post this as a committment to do something.

Chris

Hi Chris - Well, see - now you are committed - 'cause you said so These activities will help you grow as an artist for sure!! Welcome aboard !! No pressure from anyone here and looking forward to your work.

Bernie - great job on the nude !!!

SallyAnn - you too !!! Can't wait to see yours when it is completed.

Tina

[SallyAnn]

June - what part of Auckland? I lived in Totara Heights (the posh name!), in Manukau City. Our house backed onto a small treed walkway that connected to the Botanic Gardens.. was great until it got really built up. I only lived there for about 2 years.

Well, here is the start on my nude. First layer of background done. I am using a ref pic from my "Modigliani - Beyond the Myth" book, as its a lot easier, and is quite brighter. (And is less 'reddish") Having said that, I am more or less doing what I want.. hahaha.

As an aside - in that book is also a photo of "the cellist" who's suit is dark blue/grey and his cello is a deep mahogany.. go figure!

[ujwala]

Originally Posted by SallyAnn

I am using a ref pic from my "Modigliani - Beyond the Myth" book, as its a lot easier, and is quite brighter. (And is less 'reddish")

As an aside - in that book is also a photo of "the cellist" who's suit is dark blue/grey and his cello is a deep mahogany.. go figure!

I have a copy of the same book. I found the prints to be much much darker than the ones found on the web. Like for example the one of Elena Povolozky the crop which is at the beginnning of the book and also the Cellist.

The background is looking great. You guys move really quickly.

I have made a teeny weeny bit of progress. The nude has been gessoed

[SallyAnn]

Ujwala - Fantastic book eh!?!? I got it as a Christmas present and a month later we went to see the actual exhibit. I was totally blown away by the richness of the colours in real life. Before I got the book and saw them, I used a couple of pics from the web. One of the first ones I did was Leopold Zborowski (page 156 lol). As in real life, his jacket is more red than the brown I had seen on the web. I was wandering around looking at the paintings and saying.. damn.. those colours are so different!

Another one exhibited that I loved was Seated Man with Orange Background (page 153 !)...The orange was brilliant and his skin tone was like a peach.. just amazing... I'd like to have a go at that one too... sigh.. so many modi's.. so little time.. lol

Can't wait to see yours once you get painting.

[cmac]

Hi
Thank you for comments SallyAnn, Ujwala, Stumptailmonkey and Guillot.

SallyAnn, I live just around the corner from the Warrington St shops - just down the road from "The Palms" - small world huh.

I have yet to make a start on my Modi (I'll start with the cellist), but I started work real early this morning so that I can work on it this afternoon.

I might even pluck up enough courage to post some of the paintings I've done so far!

I note that those of you who have been lucky enough to see a 'real' Modigliani mention that the colours are bright - I'll bear that in mind.

[SallyAnn]

Chris - it really IS a small world.. my best friends lived in Warrington Street (not far from the corner .. Stanford Rd, If i remember rightly, before moving to Flesher Ave. Nice to meet you.. if only on line, and thousands of miles away now!

Please do post some of your other work. I have been painting for a few years, but self taught, so its slow going, but I love it. I am still at that stage that I am not sure what I want to paint, so 'copying' the likes of Modi and others, for me has at least been a learning stage. I have read lots, but find it more fun 'doing', despite the outcome.

For me, that feeling of not being sure.. wondering where I want to go, was on my mind tonight.. and every channel hubby flicked through, there was a doco on some artist, or art in general. One had me almost in tears. Joseph Giunta. Never heard of him until tonight. Born in Montreal Canada in 1911. I have yet to look into his past, but the doco tonight was so moving. Here he was, 89 years old, looking after his wife who had the beginnings of altzheimers, and still wanting to create. He was sharp, compassionate, humourous and all those things I want to be when I reach 89. Very inspirational. He died suddenly in 2001 while preparing for a major art exhibition. Very sad, but even sadder.. at the end of the doco, they took his wife around the exhibition.. she didn't even realise he was her husband.

One of the things I loved that he said... art and creativity keep you young!

Happy painting! Cant wait to see more updates.. esp Bernies dwarf harp player ..

[artbyjune]

Just checking in. I haven't done any more Modi copies as yet. I will make a fresh start next week, I think. Good thing its a two month project!

SallyAnn, I lived in Mangere when I first arrived in NZ; then moved to Epsom-Mt Roskill area. I've visited the botanic gardens in Manukau city. I used to love going to the beaches around Auckland, e.g. Kawkawa Bay, etc.

I've visited Christchurch, but only for a day in passing through on a summer hol. Very flat countryside down there.

How did you arrive in Canada? From photos, I think it must be a beautiful country!! Lucky you.

[CharlesBaudelaire]

Hello folks, just joined. Untrained painter. Here is a diptych that I'm just doing as a study, as well as the original, which is in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. It's funny to watch the tourists zoom right up to it above all the others in the room.

The background was a sort of dove gray--I used acrylic--and he used burnt umber over that. As near as I'm able to tell, the bedspread is alizarin red with some variety of yellow to indicate what seem to be paisley "teardrops" and whatnot, painted over with a lot of oil, which mutes them. The hue of the cheeks is cadmium red. No photo does the original justice; the torso is actually a rosy color. He built up from the burnt umber; parts of the armpit, the swale under the (right) breast, and the line defining the arch of her back are quite close to the canvas. The left cheek and shadow under the breast are blended, as well as where the right leg meets the belly. The lines marking the right ribcage and pelvis are on top. The hair, eyes, and wood panel background are a mixture of umber and alizarin; the hair has black lines through it, and from a distance this makes the hair seem a deeper brown, but it's the same as the background. The nipple is a rose color, the lips more intense. There are hints of ultramarine blue on the pillow above her right armpit; this contrasts with the orangy cadmium and seems to be a nod to a classical nimbus, but good art nonetheless. The line creating the arch of the back has a hint of black, and above it, the same cadmium. The features of the face were done just once and are simply black lines--same with hair. All the paint coming up to the lines along the border--pillow, bedspread, etc. are "crept up to" with a filbert brush. While the body is defined, the approach from the other elements has a sort of vibrating raggedness that draws the eye all the more to the subject. The high spots are the forehead, the upper portion of the right breast, and the belly as it meets the leg. The paint is quite thick--he appears to have gone at it quite forcefully on the leg, where he actually created sort of impasto bubbles a little less than a milimetre in diameter. The paint seems to stand off about 2mm at its thickest.

There was a question about the almond-shaped eyes. I believe this was an influence from the African masks he saw at the exhibitions in Paris. Also, he was known as Modi, but apparently intimates called him "Dado."

I'll paint a full version when I've learned what I can from this study. Any guidance is appreciated.

[Rosic]

Originally Posted by cmac

Hi everyone
I haven't started anything yet, but I thought I would post this as a committment to do something.

Chris

That's the spirit Chris... looking forward to having you!

Originally Posted by ujwala

Bernie - your nude is absolutely fabulous! love the colors too is the "livie" work going to allow you to do more of modis?

Definitely gonna try another... maybe even finish the angelic dwarf...

SallyAnn... background looking great!

June... what have you been working on?... and more Modi's for us? Sure hope so!

Charles... rolling out the red carpet for you right now... welcome! Gonna love seeing yours come to life! Love that one... I did a cropped version of a similar one some time back... here it is...

"Reclining Nude Cropped" after Modigliani
14"x18" Alla Prima Oil on stretched canvas.





Bern

[artbyjune]

Charles and bernie...Bravo on those nudes. A cropped version is rather interesting. Also the diptych idea is brilliant.

I think I will do another portrait study before tackling a nude pose!!

Keep up the good work everyone. I am really enjoying this project and wish I could get a look at the real thing in some museum nearby...need to see if any are hosting a Modi in an exhibition....maybe Birmingham museum and art gallery...I think they have a French impressionism and other twentieth C works exhibit on about now.

Cheers.

[SallyAnn]

June - I came to Canada first time in 2000 - then returned to NZ and back again in 2003. I'm one of those lucky 'met over the internet' romances... lol.. we first 'met' on line in 1997 and celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary next week.

Charles - welcome to WC! Love your modi, and the idea of the diptych.

I started putting some colour into her body yesterday. It's more of a base coat really - quite thin - so once its dry I can start plastering the real colour on.
Can't wait! I am itching to get this done so I can put it in my huge frame and hang it.