One of the absolute joys of The Diary of Faces course is the art history opportunities to discover new artists. I am blown away by so much that I have found.... I have put into my Pinterest enough inspiration to keep me painting until I'm 200!
Grigorescu was prolific and I was interested to discover that like Chen, he studied in Paris and was a contemporary of Millet and Corot. Much of his work is quite dark and brooding but I found several that I wanted to attempt too.

My sketch

I left this one as a sketch as I liked the different tonal values.
The background on the painted version was very gloomy and the hair tended to get lost. I looked at some tips about moulding the hair around the head and took longer to layer my pencil strokes and can see a small improvement.
In the original she has an almost secret half smile and I think I've captured that?. The eyes are slightly different sizes in retrospect and the left one needs moving over a fraction.

Grigorescu Head of a Girl

My favourite painting is entitled 'A flower amongst flowers -Miss Millet. It is so pretty and light. I took a photo of the undersketch before I painted it. As I will be applying sheer paint layers to shade, it is really more of an outline,laying down, hopefully proportionately, the main features. I think in the original she is possibly lying down in a meadow and I found it difficult to give that impression.

My undersketch of Miss Millet

I was interested to discover that Grigorescu was in love with Millet's daughter but it 'didn't result in a happy conclusion'. I havent yet found out exactly why?

She's certainly gazing at him in adoring bliss....
Whilst I think I captured the delicacy of her features I like the soft focus feel of the original. I am puzzled as to why her forehead looks so white as it doesnt on the actual painting. A light trick?

Detail Miss Millet

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