I started my sketch with the hair because the shape was simple to copy. As I moved on to the robe, arms, and shoes, I realized everything was a shape. I guess that's a basic thing to know, but it took drawing it for me to get it. I saw a triangle here, a rectangle there. Drawing the outline was like fitting puzzle pieces together. My sketch didn't match Matisse's perfectly, but then again, I'm not Matisse. I'm a student learning from the master.
In the end, I could finally make out the black outline of the chair. Matisse's background is black, and I didn't notice the woodwork on the chair until after I looked at the painting for a long time. The label next to the painting says that Matisse was intrigued by using black as a color. That's a lesson I'll learn another time. This lesson was about seeing shapes.
Julia Cameron writes in The Artist's Way, "Art is not about thinking something up. It is about the opposite - getting something down....We're not doing; we're getting....Instead of reaching for inventions, we are engaged in listening." I thought about that quote as I made the contour drawing. I felt like the lesson of shapes was falling right into my lap. All I had to do was be there to catch it.
I also thought about the saying that a teacher will appear when the student is ready. I won't complain when the teacher who appears is Matisse, even if he appears because I was ready for a bench to sit on. Maybe I'll create my own course called Masters at the Met by Benches, followed by Great Artwork Close to the Restroom.
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| Laurette in a Green Robe, Black Background by Matisse, 1916. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. |
