Art, Poetry and Life

Amedeo Modigliani 1884 - 1920

Modigliani is one of my favorite artists and I did several studies of his paintings one summer. He had a rather sad life and died of Tuberculosis at the age of 35. Tragically, his live-in lover, Jeanne Hébuterne, who was nine months pregnant with their second child, jumped out a fifth floor window, two days after Amedeo's death.

The artist had an unique style with the elongated necks and fingers and rather somber faces on his paintings of people. His nudes were his forte, although he studied landscapes and still-lifes as well. When I painted my studies, I put other people's faces in them rather than the faces the artist used. Neither of these two paintings is finished as my daughters didn't like them, so I stopped working on them.


by Modigliani

Kathy after Modigliani by me
This was done in acrylic.



by Modigliani

Suzy after Modigliani by me

Please pardon the grass, it is not in the painting.

This was done with oil stick. I prefer this style as opposed to the acrylic.

BTW, here is an update on Suzy. She was due to be home in Illinois today, but decided to stay a few more days. She is done working at the school and is going to another place in Africa that is famous for its beaches. This will be her R & R. She is going with a group of people and staying in another host home. The weekend before, she hiked Mt. Longonot, a dormant volcano that has a forest at the bottom of the crater.

I will go back and finish the two paintings above as they've rather grown on me. I had a hard time making such long fingers and necks. I am an illustrator by nature and when I drew hands, they always looked like hands. The hand in the top one looks like a chicken to me and the one in the bottom looks like a baby octopus. They will be changed.

The one below, I cannot find the original Modigliani on the net, but this happens to be one of my accidental favorites. I almost destroyed it because I didn't like what was happening so I took a scrub brush to it underneath very hard running water. Suddenly, I stopped, held it up and decided I liked it with the scrubbed out look.

After the Bath by me after Modigliani
Acrylic on paper