When looking at John Singer Sargent’s “effortless” portraits, I often wonder how long he actually spent on each. He wanted the painting to look fresh, with an economy of brush strokes, so a painting that looks like it was done in one sitting could have taken many. He’s said to have scraped off hours, days even months worth of work because there was too much evidence of his struggle. Here’s a painting that Sargent did in a single hour. Aha. This is helpful.
“A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth.” – John Singer Sargent
To the doctors and nurses on the frontlines, and to the essential workers such as grocery store cashiers, mail carriers, social workers, bus drivers, and many, many others who have …
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[image_with_animation image_url=”8549″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Several years ago I took a few Chinese Ink painting classes from Kiki MacInnis and Bang Jin Sun at Pratt. I learned about several …
A practical and theoretical treatise on the artisanal craft of pencil sharpening. The number one #2 pencil sharpener in the world, David Rees takes viewers through the delicate process of …
JS Sargent: 1 Hour Portrait
[image_with_animation image_url=”9047″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”]
John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Eleanora Duse
When looking at John Singer Sargent’s “effortless” portraits, I often wonder how long he actually spent on each. He wanted the painting to look fresh, with an economy of brush strokes, so a painting that looks like it was done in one sitting could have taken many. He’s said to have scraped off hours, days even months worth of work because there was too much evidence of his struggle. Here’s a painting that Sargent did in a single hour. Aha. This is helpful.
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