Two copies during Christmas break

Copy of Claude Monet's "Coucher de soleil sur la Seine, l'hiver" (1880)
(the original is at the Pola Museum of Art in Japan)
27x22cm, oil on linen canvas

During the holidays, I decided to explore the painting techniques of Marquet and Monet by painting two small copies. It's motivating to try out new subject matter; I've never painted sunsets or night scenes. Later I'd like to paint something "in the style of" these masters. I've heard there's a course that teaches art history this way and it seems like such a great idea.

For the Monet (above), I was working from a postcard without having seen the original painting. This means the colors and detail will not be exact yet it's still a good exercise. Not sure I'll ever find a similar icy scene myself but maybe I could paint a sunset over the North Sea some day.

Copy of Marquet's "Le Pont Neuf de nuit" (1937)
(the original is in Paris, France)
27x22cm, oil on linen canvas

Marquet's paintings are often "vues plongeantes" where you look down over a river or bridge that recedes diagonally towards the background. In this case, he tackled a rainy night with street lights reflected on wet ground. Of course, it would make sense to do this in a bigger format since the original is 82.5 x 100.5 cm. Nonetheless, it turned out to be a challenging exercise -- his paintings look deceptively easy.