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What happened to the living room painting?

… you may well ask! I started on the big canvas back in October, and got to the point where I couldn’t realistically paint indoors. So I moved out to the summer house. Problem is, it’s a small space, and already quite full of stuff. I found myself working on my knees or sitting on the floor, in the cold, without easy access to water and more than once putting my elbow into the paint. Hmm! Plus, I really wasn’t happy with how it was going. I thought and thought about my ‘beach scene’ idea and I just could not see it working.

So I covered up the canvas with a sheet and left it out in the summerhouse for a few weeks while I mulled over what to do. And then, I came across a painting via a Twitter link which really grabbed me. I decided to copy it. I know – not very original of me, and I’m hoping that the artist – if he or she ever saw my version – would be flattered rather than offended. Does copying someone’s painting breach copyright? I can’t imagine it’s anything like plagiarising a poem. It will never be identical to (or as good as) the original, and I’m not trying to forge someone else’s work or make money from it. Also, the original is much smaller, and I wasn’t able to copy all the subtleties, not least of all because I only had a small photo to go on.

Anyway, the canvas came back into the living room. I stopped messing about and acquired an easel. Here’s what happened.

Nope. This just wasn’t doing anything for me. So from here I painted it all out. You might notice I’d already done a bit of collage. I kept some of this in as I thought it would add some interesting texture.

 

The basic shapes. The black ‘sticks with loops on top’ are (I think) metal supports for flowers. Although someone has already suggested they look like notes! Especially as more are appearing…
The blue seemed a little wrong so I scraped it off in parts and layered greener tones over the blue. I also added more green tones to the background. That’s a leaf, by the way, not a shield!
The second flower marked out. I could see the white lines on the blue flower needed toning down.
White stamens in, white lines on blue flower toned down – it’s starting to look better now…

 

The finished painting. I was pleased with the ‘diaphanous’ feel of the white flower head (dandelion? allium?) The white was too stark, so I overlaid a creamier colour and used a glaze on top of that.
Finally in situ…

 

PS I love this bust we picked up in a flea market in Stratford-upon-Avon – we call her Persephone. She was destined for the garden, but we love her in this position now! Need to get some felt for the base so we can free up that placemat though…
Published inArtFurnishingsLiving Room

2 Comments

  1. Sarah Jarvis Sarah Jarvis

    I love how the painting has turned out! Softening the colours in the final stages, as you did, has really brought all the elements together, I think. Good work!

  2. Lesley Lesley

    Re copywrite old school art students had to copy the Old Masters as part of their training as so much could be learned. Designers have to make a minimum of six differences (even if slight ones) when copying designs to avoid copywrite issues.

    I have copied a living artist’s work myself as I could not afford to purchase the originals and had them framed. I did not sign them as my own work even though there were various subtle changes but wrote ‘ after (artists name) ‘ on the back. They were not painted for sale either but to grace my walls and when people comment on them I always own up to them being copies of (artists) work!

    I love Charleston and have been several times although not for about ten years!

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