Posh girls with dog…

But first…
Dulltown, UK: Today’s existential angst is centred around the sound of the word ‘spatulate’.
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Charcoal and pencil on paper – about 30″ x 22″.

A couple of days ago I mentioned making a handy little shelf to hold my pencils, rubbers and things, that clips on to my drawing board – I was in the middle of doing a silly drawing, a ‘copy’ of an old painting – a postcard from the York Art Gallery – The Honourable Lady Stanhope and the Countess of Effingham as Diana and her Companion by Francis Cotes 1765. Well, I think the drawing is finished – mind you, every time I walk past it I see something that needs tweaking and I stop for a moment to do a little bit of extra shading or rubbing out.
Just looking at it, now it’s finished, I can’t help but think that this really is a very odd, and probably pointless, thing to do, copying fusty old paintings like this – I wonder if there is anyone else is out there doing such things?
I don’t think I’ll use the original title for mine, although it would be correct to do so, my poor copy should really be called, The Honourable Lady Stanhope and the Countess of Effingham as Diana and her Companion ‘after’ Francis Cotes. I believe that is the accepted thing when you’ve done a blatant copy of someone else’s work. But, that title really is a bit long, I think I might just call mine, Posh girls with dog.
I do like the composition, which, of course, I can’t take any credit for – there is a very nice interaction between the three participants in the scene:

Lady Stanhope: Now look, you see this here pointy spear – when I throw it, I want you to run and grab it in you mouth and run back with it… Alright?
Countess Effingham: Eh?…
Lady Stanhope: No, no, not you dear, I was addressing the hound.
Countess Effingham: Ah, right… I should bloody think so!
Hound: I’ll go and get it! Go on, go on… Throw it then!…