The Old Masters

I have been studying the old masters, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and others from that time frame. I love their use of colors and lines and was feeling a little down on my own creative abilities because I was trying to copy them. While reading a biography of Edgar Degas last night I came across his quote to one of his friends. "The Masters must be copied over and over again until you become a good copier and only then may it be reasonably permissible for you to draw a radish from nature." It seems I was following the footsteps of those great artistic geniuses of the past without knowing it. (Yes, I know Degas was a 19th century artist, but he is a Master nonetheless.)

I have been working on anatomical sketches today. I have done a study of a hand, a female from the back and also doodled around on the drawing of my wife and myself I started yesterday.

My sister sculpts babies from modeling sculpy. I never had much luck in modeling with clay as it is too malleable, but in my pursuit of the Renascence masters I have become interested in sculpting again. I am a semi-accomplished wood carver so I know I have the general idea of changing one shape to another in a hard (wood) medium. Last night I made a plaster block about 6" cubed. I am going to try my hand at sculpting that later. One of my favorite quotes about carving is: "It is easy to carve an elephant. Get a block of wood and whittle away anything that doesn't look like an elephant." I came across a quote from the artist Ingres last night that says, "It is easy to draw. First draw a line then draw some more lines."

This is what I did today.