Copying Bargue Plates

My fascination for classical art started to deepen after knowing Johannes Vermeer and his highly recognizable painting Girl With A Pearl Earring, not to mention my curiosity with oil painting. It was in 2013, I got a second-hand book about Vermeer, with his ever so intricate paintings, which I bring wherever I go. From that point onwards, I started reading more about ways to achieve that level of excellence. And along the way, I discovered ateliers modeled after the Renaissance Masters' traditions in 18th to 19th century.

List of schools I greatly admire, to name a few:

1. The Florence Academy of Arts
2. Academy of Realist Art
3. Ravenswood Atelier
4. Sadie Valeri Atelier
5. Angel Academy of Arts

Most of the ateliers start with Bargue Drawing course as a foundation. I have known this fact 3 years ago, but I never had the drive to start doing it, until June of this year. I was at my lowest point, saw my blank sketchbook, and it was my birthday month; it's worth trying.

There is a certain way in copying this course, but I wanted to use my sketchbook, and I also did not dare overwhelm myself with the possibility of stopping drawing again before even starting. That thought alone scared me the most. So I picked the simplest drawing and started doing it without any measuring tools, a.k.a freehand drawing. Thankfully, I liked the outcome, so I continued drawing for 3 months. June, July, and August were the most beautiful and productive I have ever been as an artist. Came September, and I'm back again to what others call art block, but it's really just my mental stress that's keeping me away from doing anything, which is really sad.

The good news is, my year-end goal is to copy one Bargue plate the right way which simply means it should be done in a full-size plate, using vine charcoal, and supported by a vertical easel or a wall. Below are more Bargue copies I did during that 3 months.

If you are interested to know more about how to do Bargue drawings, feel free to e-mail me, so I can share with you my personal experience. Or you can wait for a tutorial in the near future.

Cheers!