This is perhaps among my most basic opinions, but I rarely love a Bouguereau, I wish his work had gotten a little less... gauzy? than it did, but holy moley dude could paint.
I think it's possible, though hardly certain, that Bouguereau had this other amazing painting of a Prominent Jug in the back of his head, Velazquez's Waterseller of Seville.
Part of what I love about this Velazquez--aside from the fact that, speaking of dudes who could paint, wow--is how well it functions both as a literal depiction of a quotidian scene, but also works symbolically as a Three Ages of Man.
That is, if we just literally describe this scene--an elder, kindly but grave, hands off a brimming cup to a young man, who takes it with uncertainty, while a man in his prime drinks deep from his own cup--we can see the scene carries not just literal, but spiritual, weight.
Also--and I wouldn't claim any symbolism for 'em--but man, look at those droplets and the wet clay, so simple, but so right. Just look at them 😍
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Have an inquiry from an existing collector in my inbox, asking to be kept informed about a pencil drawing I'm working on, so🤞about that. Drawings akin to this have developed a significant role both in my artistic practice, and in the practicalities of my career.
(1/)
Let's talk about studies. Customs vary from artist to artist, school to school, but in general, you don't just put brush to canvas and knock out a complex painting in a fury of inspiration; first you do studies of individual elements.
(Bouguerau examples)
(2/)
This isn't invariable, but I personally--in my larger figures, which represent a good proportion of my work--generally will do a highly worked-up drawing in pencil & chalks before starting on a painting.
A few words on keying a painting, as related to this wonderful Tissot:
When painting, you can't copy directly the value range in nature: the gap between the lightest light and the darkest dark. Your paints aren't bright enough or dark enough to do that. (1/)
Keying a painting is selecting a scheme for arranging your lights and darks such that it allows you to convey the light-effect you want. Consider this Emil Carlsen: he's pushed his darks dark, giving him space to make his midtones dark, leaving space for the highlight to pop (2/
Compare this Emil Carlsen. Objectively, the highlights are brighter than in the previous, but they don't pop in the same way: he's keyed this one such that most of his range of values is consumed by modulating halftones, so there's no space for the highlight to stand out. (3/)
My somewhat peculiar life puts me in unusually close contact with a variety of people of different ages and circumstances. And personally, I think that our treatment of young people is probably one of the most destructive things to happen in history.
It combines a refusal to take seriously, honor, and support anything children/ adolescents do as a constructive thing [your hobby is fun, but of course you'll be an office drone someday; aren't you and your boyfriend cute? Of course, he's just a disposable learning experience]...
...with a social insistence on spending fistful's of young people's time and resources on things with massive long-term consequences that, coincidentally, are useful/convenient to the aged vampires that run the world: