Two Zorn Master studies from a recent class

[Annie]

It was a class on alla prima portraiture, so we didn't paint a copy of the entire original piece, but instead just a crop of the head. And because of time limitations, they weren't taken to a level of finish equal to the originals.
This is a crop from a painting Zorn did of his wife, Emma:

And this is my study:

The second assignment was another Zorn painting, of King Oscar of Sweden (this is a crop from the full painting):

And here's my copy:

These are far from perfect, and they took way to long, but they were good exercises for portrait painting skills and I learned a lot in the class. We worked with a version of the Zorn palette: yellow ochre, cad red light, blue-black* and titanium white, which is surprisingly versatile.
* Note: Both W&N and Lukas offer a blue-black in oils and it works especially well in the Zorn limited palette in which black generally is used to fill the blue element of the palette.

Are some of these images too big? I thought a thumbnail would be too small but let me know if that would have been better, or if I should take the time to scale my images down before posting.

 

[stlukesguild]

Good job. You can certainly learn a lot from Zorn. He was a wizard with the brush. I posted on the thread on "new" works or works that are "new" to you a bit on a Rubens copy after Titian. Even masters on the level of Rubens in his mid-30s knew he could learn a lot from making copies after an artist he admired.

 

[Annie]

Good job. You can certainly learn a lot from Zorn. He was a wizard with the brush. I posted on the thread on "new" works or works that are "new" to you a bit on a Rubens copy after Titian. Even masters on the level of Rubens in his mid-30s knew he could learn a lot from making copies after an artist he admired.

Thanks! Yes, I think my instructor made an excellent choice in Zorn for both the images and for his palette. You're right that earning by copying those who have come before has been practiced by many painters. I'm still new enough not to know how to find the Rubens post you've mentioned. Could you provide a link?

 

[moscatel]

Annie, your paintings are wonderful. Lots of light and every way perfect. Well done!
I think the the Rubens post you are looking for could be this, just scroll down till the end: https://creativespark.art/threads/value-study-of-four-objects.226/

 

[snoball]

Excellent job Annie! I love the looseness of them, something I've never been able to achieve.

 

[Artyczar]

These are excellent. I like love the style and limited palettes, even though it's not so limited. They turned out nicely and they are more stylizes, which I love.

You can resize your images by "selecting" them (click on one). You will see there will be a blue border on them with itty bitty squares at the four corners. You can drag those corners with your mouse and make the image smaller to whatever size you want.

 

[stlukesguild]

The link to the Rubens' copy is on this page... although the link moscatel posted shows Rubens' copying his own work.

https://creativespark.art/threads/recent-art-that-you-liked.213/page-2

 

[WFMartin]

I think those are excellent portrait studies, and I admire the way you exhibit such a painterly quality with your brush handling.

 

[Maybenartist]

Zorn is well worth studying and the studies you've done are very good.
I like Zorn for flesh, Sorollo for shadows, Sargent for the most exquisite simple brush marks. All wonderful to study, great artists.

 

[Annie]

Annie, your paintings are wonderful. Lots of light and every way perfect. Well done!
I think the the Rubens post you are looking for could be this, just scroll down till the end: https://creativespark.art/threads/value-study-of-four-objects.226/

Thanks, Mosc! It's interesting that we're both using the same process for our paintings. These two paintings started out as B&W value studies. This image shows the value study (along with the instructor's feedback). I can really see that there's something wrong with the nose. :lol: Sargent had it right.

Excellent job Annie! I love the looseness of them, something I've never been able to achieve.

Thanks, snoball! It was somewhat shocking to read what you wrote about looseness, as it's something I struggle greatly with. So thanks for that big compliment - I must be getting there, although slowly.

These are excellent. I like love the style and limited palettes, even though it's not so limited. They turned out nicely and they are more stylizes, which I love.

You can resize your images by "selecting" them (click on one). You will see there will be a blue border on them with itty bitty squares at the four corners. You can drag those corners with your mouse and make the image smaller to whatever size you want.

Thanks, Artyczar! It really is amazing how far this particular limited palette will go. I took an earlier class with this same instructor, who taught what she called a "Chromatic Zorn Palette." It consists of Cad Yellow Light, Quinacridone Red, Cobalt Teal, Blue/black and Titanium White (she specified that the Quin Red and Cobalt Teal had to be the Gamblin versions, and the Blue-black either W&N or Lukas). You really can mix almost any color with the palette, although it's hard mixing color similar to earth colors. Still, the more traditional Zorn palette with Yellow Ocher and no blue but the Blue-black seems more than equal to the job of painting a portrait. I appreciate the tip on resizing images.

The link to the Rubens' copy is on this page... although the link moscatel posted shows Rubens' copying his own work.

https://creativespark.art/threads/recent-art-that-you-liked.213/page-2

Thanks. Those other images you posted of Rubens' work were very interesting, along with your knowledgable commentary.

I think those are excellent portrait studies, and I admire the way you exhibit such a painterly quality with your brush handling.

Again, I'm so startled to hear (read) people saying this about my work. You have no idea, Bill and Snoball, how much these comments meant to me! Thanks very much!

Zorn is well worth studying and the studies you've done are very good.
I like Zorn for flesh, Sorollo for shadows, Sargent for the most exquisite simple brush marks. All wonderful to study, great artists.

I've come to appreciate Zorn more than I had in the past as a result of the class I took and I've admired Sargent's brushwork for years. Given what you've written, it appears it's time to take a closer look at Sorolla. Thanks!

Again, thanks everyone for the great feedback!

 

[ntl]

Annie, these are wonderful!

 

[Annie]

Annie, these are wonderful!

Thanks, ntl!