I recently received a beautiful thank you note from a purchaser, which featured the painting Le Coquelicot by Kees van Dongen, Dutch painter 1877 - 1968. I’ve had the card on my desk for many weeks and am intrigued by the woman in the painting who seemingly stares at me while I work. I looked up other images of the artist’s work, and discovered the consistent emphasis on the eyes of his subject because in my opinion, the eyes are the window to the soul. I was so happy to discover that this artist painted one of my favorite paintings at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Woman With Cat, 1908.
It is a valuable method for learning to occasionally copy the masters' work, or even a modern day artist I like. The Palette and Chisel here in Chicago even offers a class with this focus. I decided to paint van Dongen's painting, which was more difficult than I thought it would be, and there are errors glaring at me. van Dongen made it look so easy. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to sign my "copy"---it just doesn't feel right.
(SURPRISE, Le Coquelicot means "The Poppy." I should have paid more attention in French class.)
https://www.dailypaintworks.com/fineart/diane-campion/1049-channeling-kees-van-dongen/897149
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