I did this exercise in my life drawing class: the setting inspired by the portrait of Ambroise Vollard (1905) by Pierre Bonnard
I started painting the sitter and the chair quite loosely, trying not to get involved in the detail, but didn’t enjoy the process. The proportions were not accurate, and I didn’t think I was capturing the pose, but as soon as I started painting the background of walls and mirror the figure started making sense and I had more points of reference to adjust the figure.
I tried to follow Bonnard’s colour technique, incorporating Burnt Umber and Light Blue but it was only a one-hour pose so remains unfinished. I do think however that I managed to capture the pose of the seated figure.
2. My second attempt was inspired by Vermeer’s Milkmaid
My painting is a domestic scene in a modern setting, using my kitchen as I did for the part Two; Simple Perspective in Interiors, based on a picture of my niece as she checked a recipe on her phone - a dessert I think, given the bowl beside her hands. I was careful to get the proportions and perspective of the body right and tried to unify the composition by reflecting the colour of her dress in other areas of the painting - on the tray, the vase on the worktop opposite, and on the floor.
I like the result though I think the colours can be pushed further – maybe next time I should be braver and put the blue in more areas.