Messing With Manet

A great exercise is to do a copy of a master's painting. The classical example is to spend an extended period of time carefully mapping out and painting a copy as close to the original as you can; line for line, stroke for stroke, and colour for colour. Traditionally this is done in a museum or gallery from the actual painting. Most of us won't have that opportunity so we work with images found in books or on the internet.

However, there are different considerations and levels of finish that can be taken into account. For this series of exercises, done as demos for a student who loves Manet, the basic shapes of the painting were blocked in loosely. The aim was to work on colour and brush strokes, or mark-making. The original images of Manet's work were to serve as a guide and inspiration but NOT to be strictly adhered to in terms of demanding perfection. It was to help the student loosen up, look at large areas of colour and work on using abstract brush marks to create representational objects.

Messing With Manet 
My student loves Manet's paintings and selected a number of pieces to work with. I call it messing with Manet because we were not doing exact copies but using his work more as a starting point, inspiration and a specific focus for each exercise.

Messing With Colour 
We used Edward Manet's "The Monet Family in Their Garden at Argenteuil" painted in 1874 as our first selection. The emphasis here was about laying down large areas of colour while keeping the study as direct and simple as possible.

Messing With Brushes 

Manet's "The House at Rueil" from 1882 was next. Here the use of various paintbrushes was looked at in the process of creating unique marks. We even cut up a few brush tips for special effects. Again, Manet was our starting point, but the exercise took priority. Especially evident in the tree foliage, as it is quite different from the original. Some points of interest. The actual house in Rueil, which still stands, looks very different in reality. Manet added some windows on the main floor and lengthened out the house horizontally. The present house has no shutters, so he may have even added them in!

Messing With Strokes

The final exercise was all about making stokes. My student had the natural tendency to fill in areas of colour with a flat application of paint. Not a negative thing, but they wanted to explore more impressionistic stokes as well as utilize a few "abstract" strokes to convey something that would read more representationally in the end. Manet's 1864 "Peonies in a Vase" became our next selection. 

Having Fun While Messing

Again, the exact placement of leaves and flowers was not the purpose. It was to create a look of leaves and flowers, using strong, direct brush strokes. Being more focused on spontaneity and not overworking the paint. Put the stoke down and leave it alone. Taking the "perfection" element from these exercises makes for an important aspect of painting, enjoying yourself and having fun!

Not All Images Are Created Equal
One thing that we discovered throughout this process, is the wide variety of colours available for the image you select. Some images are brighter, some are duller, and some have very extreme colours. Simply go online, Google a specific painting, and you will see exactly what I am referred to here. We selected images that appealed to us, that had some vibrancy and life to them.

Select a famous painting that you like and try one or more of the exercises listed above, and remember to have fun.