Idle Minutes

John Singer Sargent is by far my favorite artist. He passed away back in 1925. He made a good living painting high society portraits, many well known (Teddy Roosevelt and others), but he also did a ton of drawings and watercolors too. He’s best known for the portrait works and rightfully so.

However, in the last few decades, it’s those watercolors and drawings that are becoming widely recognized likewise, as truly remarkable work.

I first saw one of his portraits at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. George Vanderbilt, the owner of the estate, commissioned Sargent several times. I was totally amazed when I got up close to one of the paintings. They were oils, very large. Up close, you see how a few strokes make up the whole…amazing.

Go there. You’ll be amazed too at both Sargent and at the Estate. I’ve been a bunch of times. In my opinion, it’s one of those places you want to visit before you go to the great beyond. Spend the night there or at the Grove Park Inn. Then take the tours, all of ‘em. Make it a mini vacation. You won’t regret it.

I’m tellin’ ya it’s an amazing place. And no, I’m not getting paid to say any of that.

But I digress…

Sargent. It’s time I studied his work more. I’ve got a book on him. I read it. I’m going to read it again. Why? Well, you learn from others. Turns out there is a wonderful resource of Sargent drawings at Harvard and they are all online.

Man, I love the Internet!

This little sketch is from one of the sketches in the database. I sketched it and added color just for fun. The objective in drawing others’ drawings is to obtain tactile, first hand familiarity with the lines the original artist laid down.

You don’t necessarily worry with getting anything “exactly” as they did it. Instead you pay attention to what technique they used and you learn how to introduce it into your own sketches and drawings.

By drawing their drawings, you really pay attention to what they did. That makes the ol’ synapses in your own head lay down a memory of how to do the same thing but “your way”.

If you put your mind and pen to it, you’ll get better and better.