Euterpe: one of the nine Muses of Apollo

This painting by Mark Stephenson, a friend and former SVA student, seems right out of the world of the Old Master Painters. On our (way too short) trip to Europe I wasn't able to visit the Rembrandt Museum in Amsterdam or Ruben's House in Antwerp. In the meantime, until I get back, Mark's painting evokes for me the wintery Old World. With this picture I feel like I'm coming in from the cold, to a warm room filled with music, alive with artistic energy. Mark recently emailed me these pictures. I'm really enjoying seeing his progress!

Mark wrote, "I've called this (for lack of anything better) Euterpe Inspires. Euterpe, the central figure, is the muse of music. Giuseppi Verdi is in the upper left and Leona Boyd is playing her guitar. For a long time her corner remained empty because I could not decide what to put there. One afternoon on CUNY-TV, the Classic Arts Showcase show was on and they played this video of Leona Boyd playing her guitar while floating around Venice on a gondola. I hurried a video tape into the recorder and taped the remainder of the show. I found a pose I liked and painted this, pausing the tape at this point. After three minutes the machine would stop and I would need to rewind a bit and find the pose again. Not very conducive to the work at hand!"

Here is the painting in an early stage. Mark wrote, "I composed as I went along. hunting... feeling my way through. I did have a model for Euterpe, at least for her general pose. You can see the Euterpe's face is not drawn well at all and the space where Leona eventually went is very empty."

 
Here is Mark working.

Compare these 2 versions: it is fun to spot all the changes! Mark says he is still working on it - when is a painting finished?!

To see lots more, go to Mark's website.  And he has a section with a "slideshow"  - it is fascinating to see  his process of working!

2/11/08 Update from Mark: "A little good news from here: I just got notice that my painting
Euterpe has been selected to be shown in the North Carolina Artists
Exhibition. To paraphrase the info I received: The Juror, Larry
Wheeler, Director of the North Carolina Museum of Art (in Raleigh),
selected sixty works out of almost 600 submitted by over 300 artists
to be in the exhibition."  

And here is the painting how it looks now, after more revisions from Mark:

He says, "The lighting is not good and the guitar player appears darker than she really is while Verdi is lighter than he is and there is a glare on him. Euterpe is washed
out a little around her right shoulder. I added more of a curtain at the far right and a blue sash around Euterpe. There was way too much red in this painting and the blue helps and makes what colors there are more lively."  It is so interesting to follow the progress of Mark's painting, and wonderful news about it being in the exhibition! Congratulations!
 

tags: sva  amsterdam  antwerp  

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