Lydia

I've been working on a painting based on a pastel by the American Impressionist, Mary Cassatt, shown below. Its entitled Lydia at the Theatre, or sometimes Lydia Leaning on Her Arms, Seated in Loge. Cassatt frequently used her sister Lydia as a model.

Here's my interpretation, as an oil painting instead of a pastel drawing.

Now, of course, I'll have to read Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper by Harriet Scott Chessman. I've heard such great things about it. Here's a review from fellow blogger Bermudaonion. And here is the description from Publishers Weekly via Amazon:

Elegantly conceived and tenderly written, this cameo of a novel ushers readers into a small, warmly lit corner of art history. Inspired by five Mary Cassatt paintings of Cassatt's older sister, Lydia, Chessman paints her own intimate portrait of the admirable Lydia, chronicling Lydia's thoughts and feelings as she models for Mary in Paris in the late 1870s and early 1880s. All the while, Lydia is conscious that she is dying of Bright's disease, and her thoughtful contemplation of her life and dashed hopes give shape to the tale.

Doesn't that sound good?