Ingres Copy, Princess de Broglie, Finished

Here is the final copy of Ingres' Princess de Broglie. The painting is 9"  x 12". This study took over 200 hours to complete. It has layer after layer of transparent paint on her skin. I was able to bring the study into the Metropolitan Museum of Art where it is exhibited. My copy is just a small portion of the original, which features the Princess' magnificent blue dress. The secret to that vibrant blue dress? Prussian Blue. An intense transparent blue which Ingres glazed over the top of a grey underpainting.

The process of indirect painting is time-consuming, but it is the only way to achieve that rich luminous quality that oil paint gives. The main struggle I had was with the problem of dust. Because of all of the layers of oil, dust settled in the paint and is impossible to remove.

The techniques I have learned from these studies have been implemented into my outdoor plein air work. My thanks to my instructors James Robinson and Chris Franz at the Art Academy in Saint Paul, Minnesota who have been teaching me these lost techniques of early painters. Their scholarly research into these processes have been invaluable. Both Jim and Chris have done amazing research in the painting techniques of Rembrandt, Vermeer and Rubens. And now our recent research on Ingres painting has been a wonderful project.

Ingres Copy, Princess de Broglie

I have just completed another Ingres copy. This took two years to complete. The painting is Ingres' portrait of Princess de Broglie. These images show the painting in process from a warm underpainting through many layers of transparently added color. The last image with the red background is about halfway through the process.

Copy of Ingres, All 9 Steps

Here's an image of all 9 steps of the copy of the Ingres painting, Louis-Francois Bertin. The step-by-step process shows the study of the technique of Ingres. This copy was done using primarily four colors: Yellow Ochre, Flesh Ochre, Ivory Black and Lead White. The portrait is just a fraction of the entire original painting, which hangs in the Louvre. Another copy of an Ingres portrait is well underway, look for it soon.

Step 9, Copy of Ingres, All FINISHED!

After three years of work, the copy of Ingres is finally finished. The hair was the hardest part. Slowing building up the highlights in the hair took a long time. It has more texture than the rest of the painting. After the hair was completed, I decided to go back over the face again. Even though I thought it was finished, it needed a unifying final pass. The colors were strengthened, and some very subtle color variation was added. Slightly cooler colors were painted in the highlight areas and the transitions between the planes of the face were further refined. These final details took another 70 hours. It needs to thoroughly dry during the upcoming winter and then I'll put a final varnish on the painting.

Step 8, Copy of Ingres, Face finished

The face has now been completed. All that is really left to finish is the hair. The shadows on the face are now at their full darkness. They had been held in reserve until now. Notice that the eyes have darkened, and all the details of the face, like the lips and nose are much more refined. There are approximately 5-6 layers on the face now, and you can see through most of those which gives depth and luminosity to the skin. The hair has also been strengthened with the darker values in the shadows. Very little paint is used at this stage, just the thinnest glaze of pigment mixed with pure walnut oil. Soft brushes are used to feather out any hard edges. The portrait is now prepared to add the detail and final highlights of the hair. This stage shows another 60 hours of work since the previous step.

Step 7, Copy of Ingres, Coat finished

The man's coat now has the final color on it. 2 transparent layers of color were applied using three different values of darkness. The white shirt was also painted with 2 layers of thicker whiter paint. But never was the underpainting obliterated. You must continue to let that underpainting show through to give form to the shirt. The shadowed areas are much more transparent than the bright areas.

The face also has its first two layers of real color on it. 3 values of flesh have been mixed up and applied all over the face. Correcting the shapes, working on the transitions between light and shadow, and warming up the flesh are all part of this step. You can start to see the face becoming less monochromatic and more like the colors of skin. As always, darks stay transparent, lights move more to being opaque. The final layers of color will bring out more of these subtle color variations.

I am now having trouble with dust, now that paint is thicker, and I am using much more walnut oil medium in these layers. Although it may not look like much has happened, this stage shows about 75 hours worth of painting since the last step.

Step 6, Copy of Ingres -Background Finished

Now the background has a final layer of greyish-brown put on top of the bright orange layer. This completes the background. Next another layer of color has been put upon the coat. It also looks like the old guy has been given a haircut. That is because the final painting of his hair needs to go over the background.

Step 5, Copy of Ingres-Background

Now, a layer of reddish-orange color has been added to the background. It looks overly bright and colorful right now at this stage. But that is intentional, because the next layer will subdue that color, while still allowing some of its brilliance to show through it. The texture is very brushy as well for the same reason. Each layer is carefully getting darker and darker, yet still lets the preceding layers show through it. This is how depth was created in all of these old masterpieces.

Step 4, Copy of Ingres

Here's the first process in adding color; a darker layer is added to the jacket. This is now starting to get close to the actual value of the finished layer. It's still a very warm color at this point, and the paint is very transparent. It's put on with a lot of walnut oil which makes the paint more like a gel, which allows the previous layer to still show through it.

Step 3, Copy of Ingres- final underpainting

The underpainting of the Ingres portrait is finally done. This took much longer than I thought it would take, but it was critical to get this step completed in an even level of finish. There is now a full layer of paint on his face. The lighter areas have been painted with more opaque tones, with a lot of white in them. The shadow areas stay very transparent. You could stop at this point and have a nice warm portrait painting, but I'm diving into the color stage next. Of course, I have no idea what I am doing.

Mulberry Farmhouse, Easton, Maryland

The scene is an old abandoned farmhouse in Easton, Maryland. The house is rotting away quickly, I poked around upstairs and the ceiling was caving in from water damage. This is the largest painting I have ever done outside, 18" x 24". I typically do paintings half this size, so this was a new experience for me. I had to paint very fast and loose to get it covered in the few hours that the morning light was available. You can see that it barely fits on my easel. The photo shows how far the sun had changed since I began to paint it earlier in the morning. Just as soon as I finished the last stroke, my relatives showed up from Long Island, New York. I hadn't seen them in many years and we had a nice picnic lunch right on the front lawn of this eerie old spot.

Step 2, Copy of Ingres

Here's the second step of the portrait I am copying by the artist Ingres. This completes the first layer of underpainting. The whole face has been painted in a transparent layer of brown tones. Notice that just the shadow areas have been painted so far. The lighter areas will be painted next using much brighter paint. (Similar to his shirt collar). But the painting will stay in this monochrome tone for the next step. Also notice that the shadow areas of his face are not very dark. Compare the face to the jacket, see how much darker that is ? This is intentional, so the final layers of paint on the face can be built up to rich, colorful tones. This is the way Ingres would have created a portrait, there are many nice examples of his studies and unfinished paintings which are helpful tools to learn from.

Work in progress, copy of Ingres

Okay, so this is not a plein air painting. But it is a piece I am currently working on. This is a copy of an old masters painting, by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. He is a master of the technique of painting. I'm merely doing this as a lesson to learn the craft of this style called indirect painting. Far removed from the quickness of a plein air sketch, this piece is crafted slowly in many layers. What you see here is the third stage of the painting. Everything is done in warm brown tones at this point as I am slowly modelling the facial tones. You can see the right side of the face is further along. Color will be added in transparent glazes to build up the subtleties of the skin tones. I'll try to post it as it develops, but this is going to take a long time.

Shark Harbor

This spot is far across the island, took about 90 minutes by off-road vehicle to get there. What was so intriguing to paint was the different rows of hills on the coast. Each one steps back in a lighter, hazier color. We had been warned about roaming buffalo out here which can bother the tourists. Apparently 14 buffalo were brought out here in 1927 to film a movie, and the herd has grown into the hundreds over the years. We did see a few on the trip back to town, but they stayed clear of us strange artists. If you click on the enlarged version, you'll see black spots all along the bottom of the painting. That is sand from the beach which got on the painting when I dropped it face first into the sand. Luckily, if you let the painting dry, you can rub off most of it.

Catalina Pier

The famous Green pier in Avalon on Catalina Island. Sure everybody paints this icon but I had to give it a shot myself. That bright aqua green on the buildings is the signature color on the island. In fact someone is painting that green somewhere everyday. As I was painting, the crew came by and repainted the hand rails near me. One of the hardest things with a scene like this is trying to paint while boats come and go. There must have been 20 boats that would dock for a bit and then leave. I opted to leave them out. That beautiful purple on the horizon is actually Los Angeles smog. For all the bad rap it gets, it sure makes a colorful sky.

Harbor Haze

My first painting in Catalina. We had just arrived by ferry to Catalina Island, and we're anxious to get out and paint. After a short stroll along the harbor I turned back to see this scene. The late afternoon sun was creating a yellow haze over the town of Avalon. Little did I know as I was painting this, I was coming down with a bad case of food poisoning. I had lunch at an outdoor sandwich shop, which had mayo on it sitting out in the hot sun. Shortly after I finished the sketch, I couldn't even stand up. I was out sick for the next three days. What a way to start a painting trip.