How to Paint the Mona Lisa

This is my friend Anika as Mona Lisa, painted on an 8" by 10" canvas, a size I've been using for most of my portraits. I can't say I've copied the techniques used to paint Lisa as there is no sfumato smile or glazed subtlety like in Leonardo's original, but I have been using under-paintings more, which is something they did in the Renaissance. This is the third time I've copied Leonardo da Vinci works, the first being a Last Supper from a decade ago, and the second being a tiny Lady With an Ermine.

American Gothic, or How to Paint Like Grant Wood

This is my version of American Gothic by Grant Wood, a tried and true subject of imitation and parody since 1930.

How to Paint Like Pieter Bruegel

Hunters trudge home through snow after a less than substantial winter's hunt, with all their tired dogs in tow, and ready to sit in front of the fire with a hot porridge and a warm ale. The workers of an inn nearby are busy preparing for the night's clientele around a bonfire, while their placard swings in the cold breeze. Sprawling into the distance lies a bustling lakeside valley, alive with young and old alike taking advantage of the frozen ponds with their sleds, tops, curling stones and skates. It's a winter's day in the life of a post-medieval town and countryside in Pieter Bruegel's "Hunters in the Snow."

While Bruegel's mid 16th century painting style is easy to reproduce as I've done here, this is by far the most complex composition I've painted in quite some time, with so many figures, trees, and buildings. This painting gave me a reason to slow down and realize that paintings can take more than a day to complete. So I took my time and worked back and forth between fore- and background, large areas and details as I saw fit.

All the while I only had to look outside my window during this February storm for snowy inspiration. If my dog were here, we'd be out trudging like these hunters.

Lady with an Ermine, Paint Like Leonardo

My favorite of Leonardo da Vinci's paintings is Lady with an Ermine. Mona Lisa's got absolutely nothing on her beauty. If one was to really paint like Leonardo, they would paint on a much larger canvas (this is a miniature 5" by 7" canvas), and start with an underpainting of a thinned color such as umber. Then they would paint many layers, letting each layer dry especially in the glaze phase. When glazing, the "sfumato" method, meaning smoke, is used to very subtly shade with very thin layers which darken the layer underneath.

How to Paint Like Frans Hals

Frans Hals was the Dutch master of vibrantly painted characters exuding emotion, laughter, inebriation, and such comical facial expressions as the maniacal grimace or sneer that shoots over the shoulder of the Malle Babbe, or "The Witch of Haarlem." That intensely interesting subject is what I have recreated here in a whimsical portrait of a friend who posed.

I love painting Frans Hals copies because of his seemingly quick and loose brushstrokes and the fact that every line and color on his canvases is exactly what is needed in the picture and not a bit more. When I remix his pictures, I keep that looseness and show just the essence of the image instead of a slavish reproduction, while still keeping the spirit of the original. 8x10" canvas board.

It looks like I gave him a falcon instead of an owl, but I imagine this sort of witch/ tavern patron would attract any manner of fowl or rodent. This was a very fun painting, and I have another Hals remix in the works.

How to Paint Like Thomas Gainsborough

A young bourgeois in fancy satin and linen stands proudly for the painter, who created his best and most well-known work. The Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough has always been one of my favorite paintings, and I have recreated it here on a 16x20 canvas with a model you'll find familiar (Portrait With Cat, Saint John by Caravaggio). I've made his face as young as the little aristocrat, and aside from the sitter transplant I've kept the rest fairly close to the original.

In 1770, Gainsborough took advice from peer Joshua Reynolds who said that blue can not only be the focal point in a painting rather than simply recede, but dominate the canvas. And dominate the Blue Boy does: with that blue satin sheen, the hand on hip and feathered hat, and confident look on the face that assures the viewer 'I'm here, I'm important, and I am worthy of being in one of the best portraits of 18th century Europe'.

I've been enjoying painting originals and exploring the character of the objects and views close by, keeping the grandiose and/or important subjects for later. I still love copying from great artists as it helps me to hone my skills while learning about the techniques, life and times of the artist (and what a time it must have been to paint portraits in the late 18th century, with such fashion!). As all artists before me have taken from those who preceded them, I will see as far as I can by standing on the shoulders of giants.

How to Paint Like Winslow Homer

Winslow Homer was arguably the most well-known and best of American painters in the 19th century. He painted such masterpieces as Breezing Up (or a Fair Wind), which I have endeavored to replicate for the second time.

You can't really see the deep Viridian sea-green in the waves so the photo doesn't do it justice. Of course the same can be said for the photo of the original or any painting, which must be seen in person to get the full effect.

How to Paint Like Caravaggio

One of the tried and true ways for an artist to learn how to paint is to emulate great artists. This is how I started out with oil painting and it has been invaluable practice. For a while I've been painting my own pictures but it doesn't hurt to get back to the copying, only this time I painted someone else's face, so I've still practiced portraiture and added my own touch.

I've always admired the early Baroque/late Renaissance Italian painter Caravaggio for several reasons. He was considered the first Baroque artist and like any "first", he defied convention and forged his own way, all the while creating controversy and provocation. I hope one day I can blaze a new trail and make valuable new contributions to the world through my art. For now: practice, practice, practice.

I like to challenge myself, and the "tenebrism" or strong chiaroscuro of these paintings were very difficult to paint. I'm no Caravaggio, but at least I can admire and learn from him.