Re-Creation

Okay, I know I have been all over the place with my blogs but, summer has a way of throwing your usual schedule off.  Tomorrow, I will be a little busy, so I thought I'll write my blog and post it today.  It finally stopped raining here long enough to mow the yard and have some friends over which was wonderful.  I sure hope you get to enjoy the summer this week too!

In college I took this awesome class that combined my two majors....painting and photography.  It was a 5 1/2 hour class twice a week.  Which seems crazy but it was a lot of fun and we had breaks to get lunch and supplies, as long as we were working hard on our projects and getting them done.  One assignment in our class was to take a painting we enjoyed and re-create it in a photograph.  This was a way for us to figure out lighting and editing while studying a painting.  I loved using my friends as models for my artwork so I knew I wanted to ask my friend and roommate to model for me.  But the question was, what painting?  Then, I remembered my friend's favorite painting that hung in the Houston Art Museum, Kees Van Dongen's The Corn Poppy:

As you can see....this one would be hard to re-create because it isn't realistic.  But I knew it would be fun to make my friend into her favorite painting.  So we gathered up a brown sheet, a red shirt, and a white bathrobe and went to the studio to see what we could do.  This is what we came up with:

Fun right?  Now their are obvious differences but still close similarities.  This project was fun. Another student in the class asked me to be her model for the painting The Death of Marat by Jacques-Louis David.  Since I was pale and skinny like Marat in the painting...I was perfect for the job. 

So my fellow classmate gathered up some stuff and I kept a shirt on for obvious reasons and tied a white shirt around my head and posed.  I want to apologize for the photo I have of the finished work...I didn't get one with it that was better quality at the time.

I had a lot of fun modeling for this picture.  So let me give you an assignment (the teacher in me said that...) this summer re-create one of your favorite paintings as a photograph.  I guarantee it will be fun and you can learn so much about your favorite painting by searching for those little details to re-create.  I'll do one too.  I'll share mine sometime this summer and maybe you can share your's in the comments below or to me personally and I can share them in my blog.  Have fun re-creating friends and remember to be the best artist you can be!

P.S. Happy Birthday to my model/friend/roommate!