Renoir, "Mussel Fishers at Berneval", 1879
 

I was so excited to do my first Masters study (since college actually). This is "Mussel Fishers at Berneval", 1879, by Renoir. I figured he would be a great study in edges.

The progress I am showing, which is in no way close, is a 24" x 16" oil on linen. I can see that the color varies greatly between the scanned book photo and my digital photo of my canvas. I also notice I need to work on the youngest girl's face. Some of the charm is missing.

Please note this is in progress and there is much to do yet. But it has been a wonderful lesson.

Comments welcome. Thanks!

This is the original:

This is my canvas thus far:

Finally the detail:

Well, I can see a ton of people have viewed this but decided not to comment. I am assuming everyone just wanted to be nice. I appreciate that.

So, I am going to critique myself, so that maybe a newer person might learn something, too.

There are two excellent threads on this site, both referring to the subject of "seeing" or measuring your image.

The first is by Michele and it is about relative size:
Michele's post.

The second about "sight" size by Steven, starting at the bottom of the page: Steven's post.

After reading these again today, I started to apply it to my reference of this Renoir and noticed how far off I had the toddler

Elizabeth, I am sorry that no one had time to give pointers. Sometimes it just takes a couple of days to get a response. Remember giving a critique means actually spending some time on line and comparing the work in progress with the original.

You are right about the little toddler, she needs to be adjusted. I noticed that her head needs to tilt more towards our left. Her gaze has to shift to the left as well. The arm on our left has to be lifted; the angle is not quiet right.

The older girl needs to have a shift in value where the transition from the neck to the cheek takes place (our right side). The hand that goes toward the collar has to be smaller.

If you have Photoshop, I recommend you check the thread I recently submitted about using the opacity tool for checking correct placement of features.

I can

Beth,

You

Enzie, thank you. As always, you are most considerate of others. I

Premixed Colors vs. Making Your Own
 

I don

Enzie, thank you for your input again. I was kidding when I mentioned the flesh colored premixed tube, but not about the others. My problem with my own mixing is that I don't mix the same amount consistently. So a pinch and a dash really change. This must come with practice.

Hi, Beth,

If you want to get into oil painting, I would recommend you identify which colour palette of a particular artist that you like (it can either be from an old master or any other artist) and learn from that colour palette. It is also a good idea to learn painting from a limited palette. From the colour palette, I would make up colour charts, with 5 values, one in pure colour (and mix with white for value gradation). Then for each of the colours, make up a chart with that colour mixed with each of the other colours in the palette. This is also done in 5 values. It is a good exercise to learn about the colours that you have chosen, how colours are mixed to get a certain colour, colour harmony, etc. It sounds tedious and time-consuming, but you will be amazed with what you will learn from it.

This will save you a lot of money buying a lot of unnecessary paints, because you can mix any colours that you like. It also helps you to understand how colours behave better in painting.

I used to paint in oils, but switched to pastels because it is relatively easier with all the cleaning up, etc. I am now getting back to oil painting. Hopefully, I will find some good ideas for some new oil paintings!

Mai :)