Genesis of a Masterpiece

Well, actually this masterpiece also begins with a masterpiece.

Last year in Sarah's last year of high school, as an assignment of her AP art class she was to choose a past work of art and somehow transform it into her own work of art. Rick and I were beckoned to her house to help. She explained the project and showed us the picture she wanted to "copy":


This is Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s “Young Girl Reading” and Sarah wanted a similar look for her artwork. I have some renaissance costumes, one being just the right shade of orange and an artistically interesting chair, also orange. Rick and I are both fledgling photographers so we got our photo gear and headed up to my place.

I got out the dress and, as expected, it fit just right and the chair likewise had the right look. Now we just had to emulate the light in the original picture. In the picture I believe it must have been firelight, which we didn't have available. But a low watt incandescent bulb gave just the right look, I found a small lamp and ripped off the shade - perfect! OK, now we need a book. How about a small soft-cover bible? Perfect again! I have to do something with her hair, I'm not good with that, so I grabbed a black velvet scrunchie (Kramer's fav!) circa 1990's and pulled her hair into a sloppy ponytail with the hair pulled halfway through - voila! A neat bun similar to the look in Fragonard’s painting! Wow! How is all this happening?!? Here are some of the photos Rick shot:



Now Sarah could do her magic. I guess she started with the background, nice touch, very old masters look. Then the rest followed, great job Sarah!


And we weren't the only ones that thought so, she got lots of comments and good grades on it. Just last month it was also on display at an art show at the college she currently attends, Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA.

It's rare that we get to take such a neat picture of one of our offspring so I also took advantage of the same shot. I've bee aching to try to make one of our photos look like an oil painting and this one was perfect. So I used the appropriate software and had it blown up to poster size, to replace the picture I had hinging in my bedroom, the inspiration for the decor. I knew that picture would go in the room because it was taken in the room! That hopefully made Rick feel more at home in his new boudoir. Here's how my artwork came out:


OK, I know I cheated, but I'm not the artist Sarah is, I only know how to digitally edit and transform.