Two New Portraits

And Four Months Later . . .

It's been about 4 months since my last posting--lazy summer--so I will just jump in now and post a couple of pieces I did within the last week or so, and later dig out the paintings I've done since March and post them here.

This first one is a portrait of Anthony Smith, who modeled for us at the Saturday portrait drawing sessions at the Sebastian River Art Club.  Melbourne artist Brett Pigon helped some of the artists with their portraiture which was mostly in charcoal or pencil.  Mine was in pastel pencils, a very portable and somewhat forgiving medium, which colors blend beautifully together or separately.  He needs a bit more tweaking on the hair, more color on the face, and he will eventually be dressed in ethnic costume.

Anthony Smith, pastel by Judy Burgarella

Below is a lovely painting rendered in oil, the composition of which is thought by the experts to be of a work by Leonardo DaVinci.  One can learn a lot by copying the masters, and I take no credit for the composition, which I believe is half of the intrinsic value of a painting.  An artist can be a wonderful painter, but rank poor on composition.  So not only can one learn a lot about painting techniques in the copying process, but you can't help but learn a lot about composition also.  In this painting I also learned a lot about value placement and their important role in a painting.  I had a fabulous time with this one, and couldn't wait to demo another for my students, and teach them some of the tricks I learned along the way.

12" x 16" portrait in oil, coped from Leonardo DaVinci's "Profile of a Woman in Renaisance Dress"

More to post from my 4-month absence, when time permits.

Judy Burgarella
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