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Hathnowitz — My Last Renoir
Published: 2008-08-04 05:00:34 +0000 UTC; Views: 692; Favourites: 24; Downloads: 8
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This painting has a story. It was the last painting I did in the style of Renoir, my favorite Impressionist. The lady I painted it for didn't like it
and it sat in the closet called the "Vault of Flops" for almost a decade. I'm pleased to say it has a new life now, over a piano, too.I thought it was the best of the stuff I did in those days. I recommend to everyone who wants a true passion they can live with to take up painting. Except for being in love, only Beethoven can compete with the thrill of making something worthwhile come to life on canvas.
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Comments: 48
I am stunned really, that she did not like this. It is beautiful. It makes me wonder what else you have hidden away.
Oil is so unforgiving. You did a beautiful job capturing and blending tones and textures. I love this piece.
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wow...I have been doing oil painting in school, and believe me, it ain't easy...this is really lovely.
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Thanks so much. I really love and admired Renoir, and I really like painting these homages to his style. I think this was my best painting. Well, keep working on your painting technique. There are few thrills in life more wonderful than immersing yourself in all the trappings of oil painting.
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When I was little I always would look at my mom's Renoir art book...mainly because I loved the pretty clothes...But I still must have absorbed something, because I do like that painter very much, still!
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She's beautiful! This is a really wonderful painting, and I'm sad to hear that it went unappreciated for so long.
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This is truly stunning!! I love it, it's gorgeous!
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Thanks so much. Nice of you to say so. I'm still a big fan of Renoir. Are you?
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Not until you just mentioned him have I ever actually looked at his work ..but now that I have, I see how beautiful it is! A very fine painter indeed 
You have very good taste!
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That's very moving of you to write that. I have a special place in my heart for him and the other impressionists, and also, the Renaissance painters too.
I saw your Miracles photo, and it rocks!
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why didnt the lady like it??? she obviously didnt know art.. her loss.. 
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Oh. Thanks for liking it. She just wasn't thinking right at the time. Since then she's changed her mind, and now she likes it. Thank God. It was my last really good painting.
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yeah obviously she wasnt thinking right that time.. 
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Me too. It resolved well, after all. I'm glad the whole thing finally made sense.
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Thank you so much! You've really made my day!
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I'm sorry the lady didn't like it, I agree with everyone above saying she is obviously a fool! I'm very poor at painting, and all the time and passion you must have put in really came out in this portrait. I'm glad it is no longer sitting in the "flop" pile
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It's so good to hear from you again.
She likes it now. She just had some "growing up" to do, so now the painting gets a new lease on life!
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It's good to be back. I had to take a bit of a hiatus while I moved. But things are settling down now (even though I now have to move from San Diego to Santa Barbara next week). But I'll have nothing but time after that, so expect a lot of photos lol.
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Well, I've been staying with my cousin in San Diego until I could find a place near my school. So now that I have a place, and I move in Monday and I'm going to settle down there finally.
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What do you mean, she didn't like it! Some people are just BLIND. This is absolutely gorgeous! You did a superb job, and I'm sorry it wasn't appreciated! Obviously that woman must have mental problems.
I know I'd be eternally grateful if anyone painted me!
Renoir also happens to be my favourite Impressionist, by the by.
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Jeez, I'm glad to know you are a Renoir freak like me! Maybe someone will paint you in an impressionist style someday. Maybe you'll have a portrait that your grandchildren can point to and say, "there is our grandmom. Wasn't she a dream? What a dear she was".
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That would be absolutely wonderful! I'll HAVE to have that done someday.
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This is beautiful! I don't know what's wrong with the lady you painted it for; I think it's lovely. Her expression is so serene...I think Renoir would've appreciated. I'm glad it's out of the closet, and over a piano seems like a suiting place for it.
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Thanks, Sarah. I'm so glad you like it, and I appreciate especially your liking the expression. It's definitely out of the closet at this point. Working from photographs, as opposed to working from life, as they say, has it's advantages and disadvantages, and I think the disconnect I had with the sitter points out on of the disadvantages!
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It may just be me reading into it having read why the subject didn't like it, but there's a sort of sadness about the eyes and coupled with the almost wistful smile it makes for a truely moving painting. Well done indeed sir
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Thank you very much, and you are the first to comment on the eyes. Now that you mention it, they are sad, indeed. That was built into the photograph, and if I learned one thing, it was never to tamper in a major way with the eyes. When the artist does that, the work turns into Pandora's Box. The expression of the eyes is what gives a work it's most fundamental mood.
Thanks for noticing!
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so she didn't like it, too bad, it's a nice painting I specially like her face, thanks for sharing. and making a photograph in a darkroom can be as thrilling as painting
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It's very beautiful my dear Cliff! THe smile u captured is pretty refreshing!
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Gah, how could she not like this?! [rhetorical question, I already know!!!] All the colors are so soft and pretty.
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It's happened to me more than once. Any real artist(unlike a hobbyist, like me) will tell you that you have to develop a thick skin when dealing with people!!
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why didnt she like it??? its amazing!! I love it, the colors, the detail, her face, she's beautiful! Awesome job hun!!
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Let me copy and paste this little explanation ...
Let me explain why she didn't like the painting. I was working from a photograph, and the lady said the photo was taken on a very bad day when her brother had just run away from home. She said that fact ruined it for her. She finally changed her mind after seeing it after all those years and realizing, at long last, that I had completely transformed the mood of the earlier photo. Some people are just plain hard to please.
As we say in America....What can I say?
Thanks for your wonderful complements.
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How can you not like that painting? I love the style, the colours and the softness of her features.I'm glad it's back out in the light of day!
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Let me explain why she didn't like the painting. I was working from a photograph, and the lady said the photo was taken on a very bad day when her brother had just run away from home. She said that fact ruined the whole thing for her. She finally changed her mind after seeing it after all those years and realizing, at long last, that I had completely transformed the mood of the earlier photo. Some people are just plain hard to please. Do you know what I mean?
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That's probably why the painting works so well. I know what you mean about difficult people
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great one, i immeidatly thought of Renoir as a saw it even before reading the title! Renoir, in his last period...
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how coudl anyone not like this....Cliff I love love love it!!!! it is stunning..the colors are amazing and you lied the hair looks great......
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You are so kind, my dear, and I'm a hopeless sap for that, but the hair is really not that good....of course this is expressionism and it's allowable, even desirable. Van Eyck would have tossed it, so it's just a matter of the prevailing tastes and expectations of the time.
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