Using Baroque pigments and painting methods, paint along with Sadie as she creates a copy of 17th century Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens’ portrait sketch of his wife, Isabella Brant.
Please note: In response to requests, we have only minimally edited this video so it’s possible to see the painting develop in real-time over 10 hours of footage. Due to this extended length, there is no recorded voice-over, unlike our other videos. However, Sadie has also included detailed written instruction for every stage of the painting.
PREVIEW (scroll down to open course lessons)
COURSE LESSONS
Lesson 1: Panel Prep and Under-Drawing
Lesson 2: Flesh Tones Layer One
Lesson 3: Flesh Tones Layer Two
Lesson 4: Background and Garments
Lesson 5: Refinement of the Features
The goal of this course is to emulate Rubens’ loose, expressive process, using just a few paint colors, to expand our ability to create quick and lively oil portraits.
Sadie starts this copy by sketching broadly with the paintbrush on a streaky toned ground. The flesh tones are then modeled with painterly strokes, and the clothing, jewelry and hair are expressively dashed in using a single-pigment paint application.
Portrait of Isabella Brant by Rubens, c. 1620–1625
(This is the full-res image suitable for copying, right-click to open and view)
Sadie’s Copy of Rubens’ Painting
Video content run time: 10 hours, 20 minutes.
