Correggio Commission

See the previous post here. 

This is the start of the underpainting. I will be doing this as a series, so stay posted. This is oil on linen on panel. At this stage it is about 1 minute into the process. This is burnt umber thinned with turpenoid.  You can see the remains of some construction lines behind the masses of paint.

New Correggio Commission

I have recently received a commission to paint a copy of Correggio's Head of Christ, which is owned by the J. Paul Getty Museum.  It was painted about 1525 - 1530.  It is an extremely delicate and sensitive portrait, and I am looking forward to attempting it.  I will be doing a series on my painting process once I get a little further along with it.

Head of Christ, Correggio, J. Paul Getty Museum

According to the Getty Museum:
As Christ stumbled under the weight of the cross he bore on the way to his crucifixion, Saint Veronica comforted him and wiped his face with her veil. According to legend, Christ's features were miraculously imprinted on the fabric. In this haunting depiction, Correggio painted Veronica's veil as the white cloth in the background. Christ faces the viewer and parts his lips as if to speak.
Through the use of strong light and shadow as seen in the defined cheekbones, line of the nose, and hollow of the neck, Correggio gave his forms a sense of volume. He further used light to emphasize the image's poignancy, placing the left half of Christ's face in shadow while the right side receives light. The subject matter and small size of the Head of Christ probably indicate that it was made for private devotional use.

Working on moving to my new studio

I am moving the studio to a nicer location off the Diamond in Ligonier (the traffic circle in the middle of town). The new address is 116 West Main Street, Ligonier, PA 15658.  The new studio is located next to the Ligonier Echo office, across the sidewalk from the library. Art lessons are currently in full swing in the new space and my students are loving it!

Painting Sold

I have recently sold The Wedding to a collector in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.

The Wedding, Jaime Cooper, oil on linen

New paintings now available at Patricia Hutton Galleries

I have two new paintings now available through Patricia Hutton Galleries.  They are Cloud Study III and The Jungfrau.  Cloud Study III is an invention, The Jungfrau comes from a trip I took to Switzerland a few years ago.  It shows a vista overlooking the Jungfrau, Munch, and Eiger mountains.  We stayed in Isenfluh, which is down the mountain side from the vantage point of the painting.

Cloud Study III, Jaime Cooper, oil and 24K gold on linen, courtesy Patricia Hutton Galleries

The Jungfrau, Jaime Cooper, oil on linen, courtesy Patricia Hutton Galleries

Art review: Regional Juried Art Exhibition at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art

Art review: Regional Juried Art Exhibition at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art

Kurt Shaw writes:

Among many more notable works, Jaime Cooper's oil painting, “Picasso in the Hall of Bulls,” is another standout for the remarkable likeness in a portrait of the great artist Pablo Picasso. 

“I read an anecdote about Picasso that said he visited the Hall of Bulls cave paintings in Lascaux, France, looked up at them and said, “My God, we have learned nothing.” I was fascinated that paintings up to 30,000 years old impressed Picasso in such a way. I strove to capture this moment in my painting,” says the Ligonier-based artist and art instructor.

AAPL 87th Grand National Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NYC

My painting The Sculptor 1902 has been accepted into the American Artist’s Professional League 87th Grand National Exhibition at the Salmagundi Club, New York City.

I have also recently been invited to become an elected artist member of the American Artists Professional League, based at the Salmagundi Club.

The Sculptor 1902, Jaime Cooper, oil on linen

Upcoming Demonstration and Student Show

The Ligonier Art Walk is coming up on November 7, 2015.  I will be having a Student Art Show for my private art students, ranging in age from 8 to 80.  I will also be doing an oil portrait demo starting at 4 pm on November 7 at the studio.  It is free and open to everyone.  I will start from scratch and go through at least one color layer and discuss portrait anatomy as well.  I will have a projector set up so everyone can get a good close look at what I am doing.  I will probably be working from a photograph and will discuss the limits of and changes that need to be made when working from photos.  I will also be flipping views on the projector to anatomy diagrams so we can have an in depth discussion of how the underlying anatomy of the head influences the portrait.

Paintings Sold and a Long Awaited Update

The first half of this year has been very busy with some personal stuff and now I am catching back up. 

I have recently sold two paintings, Mysic from Patricia Hutton Galleries, Doylestown, PA, and Cloud Study II from the Loyalhanna Watershed Auction, Ligonier, PA.

Cloud Study II, Jaime Cooper, oil on linen, private collection Pittsburgh, PA

Mystic, Jaime Cooper, oil on linen, private collection Philadelphia, PA

A New Ophelia Sold and Pictures from The American Artists Professional League 86th Grand National Exhibition 2014

My painting A New Ophelia sold from The American Artists Professional League 86th Grand National Exhibition 2014 at the Salmagundi Club in NYC.  Below are some pictures from the show:

The crowd inside the Salmagundi Club

A New Ophelia, Jaime Cooper, 2014, oil on linen, 21 x 18 inches, copyright Jaime Cooper

I was also fortunate to catch an exhibit in the parlor of the Salmagundi Club of some of Portraits, Inc. artists, including seeing a painting that I have long admired by Burton Silverman (click on the link to see a real photo of the painting on Mr. Silverman's website):

Survivor, Burton Silverman, 2004, oil/linen, 56"x40", copyright Burton Silverman