Today marked day 1 of my 21 days! I decided to look at this painting and focus on the composition and understanding what makes the composition good. It didn't necessarily require me to reproduce it but I figured I'd sketch it and stick some colour over it but I wasn't gonna let myself spend all day copying it... (but oh how I wanted to :'( ).


I think the composition in this piece is relatively straightforwards; the focus is on the woman and nearly all the lines lead to her. The strategic placing of the men and the nets all lead your eye to her while still looking convincing. She is also illuminated against the dark sea and nets again drawing the eye. I love the flow of this painting as well- it adds drama and while looking very romanticised (obviously) still looks convincing.

Moving on! I had kinda tried to stop myself from doing flat out copies of photos and master paintings since I'd got into the habit of mindlessly copying them and wasn't learning anything at all. Taking some time away from doing that and reflecting on that helped me to realise what I needed to do when I studied.


In my day of moping and reading I re-read the whole of James Gurney's 'Imaginative Realism' and I'm so glad I did! I've read it before but it was a few years ago and I forget things; reading it again was a good refresher and I could also apply different parts to where I'm at now. Among other things I've taken away from the book, doing regular studies of things you see is a really important one.

I don't think I'll be able to go out all the time and do plein air studies like he does but I can definitely do it with some of the photos I find.

I can also do it with animals which (in terms of learning their anatomy) will be really beneficial.

I'm trying to keep them relevant and remember why I'm doing them so it's not mindless rubbish all over again but I think we may be onto something! I'm also working on re-launching (so to speak) an old idea of mine which I think could be really interesting as well as being a good focus for me so stay tuned!