Sargent master copy

dakmediocreart

Master copy of Sargent. About 4 hours into the process, 16x20. Depending on how this turns out I might try to copy the whole thing. Sargent is just better, his color is better his drawing is better, the dude was clearly off the spectrum. I have no idea how he got her face so clean and bright. I’m going to work on it tonight after work and see if I can clean her face up. I think the eyes are too close together and the left eye I think needs more shading. Let me know what you all think. 

dakmediocreart

The left side of her face is also too squinty.

MoleMan

dakmediocreart said:

The left side of her face is also too squinty.

Yes, but my left eye goes off in devious directions also. Nice brushwork, intelligent painting.   

dakmediocreart

MoleMan said:

dakmediocreart said:

The left side of her face is also too squinty.

Yes, but my left eye goes off in devious directions also. Nice brushwork, intelligent painting.   

Haha I feel ya. I’ll touch that up tonight. Thanks for commenting. 

toujours

You are on a good track, but without seeing the master alongside, it is difficult to comment.   Perhaps in the original that side of her face was in full light and she was squinting....hard to know.   Sorry, I do not have time to google all of Sargent's works to find which one this is and compare.....

joydeschenes

Hi @dakmediocreart .. I do know the painting and I think you have a really good run on it. I like your colors & brushwork.  Personally I think the best part of Sargents painting , what draws you in,  is her expression and I can see that you see that. Hope you’re enjoying doing a master copy I’ve done one of his lesser known ocean paintings a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. I’m still working toward doing portraits. 

GTO

I’m liking it so far.  Looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

dakmediocreart

I might give it another 3-4 hours tomorrow. Might be spinning my wheels at this point. 

dewald

I love this painting by Sargent. Maybe you can get some help or inspiration here? 

(Part 1) 
https://youtu.be/POVAbTjiAt4. 

(Part 2)
https://youtu.be/PvTlJfrsbsk 

Good luck!

Abstraction

I did this in a class as my second ever portrait. I've never seen a copy by anyone that has captured her face exactly as he did, not one, and I googled it quite a bit - so don't be put off. I also love your loose brushwork, moreso than my version of it.

Leo2015

I think it's a good attempt, but it looks more like a master copy of a work by some impressionist painter. If you don't like the impressionists and prefer to study a more classical approach in art, stay here and study with Mark. 

Leo2015

@Abstraction, There have been some good attempts by other artists like J. Howard Sanden and Stephen Bauman, among others, but I agree, none have really captured her face exactly. 

dakmediocreart

Leo2015 said:

I think it's a good attempt, but it looks more like a master copy of a work by some impressionist painter. If you don't like the impressionists and prefer to study a more classical approach in art, stay here and study with Mark. 

Essentially everything I do would be either considered Impressionism or just plain bad lol. I almost never stop a painting until it is finished regardless of size, this one I decided to do more touch ups, but it’s about 8 hours in. Everything is wet on wet and painted fast. Here I think I’m mostly irritated with the impatient drawing I did, one go, didn’t really measure just put features and went with it. The eyes for instances are anatomically too close together. But, I am impatient and have an extremely busy schedule. 

tassieguy

It's a good impressionistic result for just 8 hours, @dakmediocreart. It would have taken me 8 hours just to do the drawing. Another 8 hours to mix the colors and another 8 days to do the actual painting.

When copying a masterpiece with strong brushworks like Sargent's it's extremely difficult to replicate every brushstroke so that it matches the original. The videos that @dewald posted are instructive.

dakmediocreart

I mix colors from a limited palette on the fly, and never do more than a very simple underdrawing with a wash. Here I focused more on shapes than brushwork as you said it’s extremely hard to copy brush strokes.

dakmediocreart

Ok. Moved the eye to the left. Blended more. I’m not going to do any more to it. 11 hours or so. Sargent is probably the most technically gifted painter ever.

dakmediocreart

More touch up. Going to wash the brushes and give it a rest.

MoleMan

I like the bold brushwork, and I think you are getting the (her) left-side-of-face somewhere near being in balance. Or maybe it is the righthand side that is wrong. I've burdened so many strokes these days, I'm not quite certain which side of a face is sagging the most. I think you are making good progress.