figure drawing again

Been really busy trying to finish up a project, so my last three Sargent studies have taken a back seat.  Nonetheless, I've been trying to get to drawing workshop when I have a chance, and it's a good enough way to blow off steam at the end of the week.  Practice is practice!

It occurs to me that I seem to get good results painting the model from the rear, and I think it's partly because broader and in some cases more simple shapes.  This suggests to me a need to move to a smaller brush maybe for detail work? Or be more deliberate when handling smaller details as with the head and face.

figure drawing

10 minutes.  Was trying out a new naples yellow watercolor.

Sargent day 27

Pretty happy with this one if I ignore the shapeless cherubim that form the base of the fountain, haha! All told probably not more than an hour not including waiting for things to dry.  Also did some reductive stuff in places that went too dark, though it's a little small to really have much control.

Sargent day 26

I'm fairly pleased with this one, possibly because it was more explicitly an exercise in drawing as opposed to painting. 

Sargent day 25

I guess I'm going to go until 30 at least, but then I'll take a break from these copies.  I feel I'm getting a little bogged down and not gleaning as much from these recently.  Not because there's nothing to glean, but because I'm losing focus a little.

Sargent day 24

Complex - kind of lost focus on this one.  Blah!

Sargent day 23

High key has always been a weakness of mine, so this one was intimidating - a particular challenge.  Yikes!  Although I think the curtains turned out better than I had hoped, the value/color of the boats and such outside went too dark/saturated.

back to Sargent (day 22)

We interrupt this program...

...for some figure painting.  I think these were 5 minute poses..

I almost like how the feet turned out.

Sargent day 21

Again, light values not quite light enough, and lack the color intensity of the original.  I do suspect he used some gouache in the folds of the dress though, which I haven't bothered to do.

Sargent day 20

It has its moments, but also kind of meh.  Again, had trouble controlling the really light values.  Also wasn't able to quite get his dry-brush look on the walls.  That may be partly due to the type of paper I'm using, which is just paper in a sketchbook.  It's pretty heavy, but not watercolor paper.

Sargent day 19

Very much meh...

I mean, I guess it's a little weird that she was wrapped in carpets, but still..

Sargent day 18

Another excerpt..

A little too brown on the tree trunk.

Sargent day 17

Such a great example of negative space...and really light wash - something else I need to work on.

Sargent day 16

Busy schedule, so this is only an excerpt of one of his garden paintings - the part that i found particularly pleasing. Holding the brush like a brush (as opposed to a pen) has helped even at this tiny size.

Sargent day 15

I was totally intimidated by this one, but happily surprised how it turned out despite the less than accurate drawing and awkward cropping (lost their feet because I was at the bottom of the sketchbook).

Sargent day 14

Very small thumbnail.  Really only got basic shapes/values.

Sargent day 13

Disappointing. It started off promising (correct shapes in the face) but then I tried to adjust colors/values before everything was sufficiently dry.  The right kind of patience is definitely going to have to be something I need to work on with watercolors!

Sargent day 12

Totally whiffed on the face, but oh well. I was more focused on overall shapes - that's my excuse, haha!

Sargent day 11

So far this has been the most confusing one for me - so many subtle color variations..Not sure it looks like the actual piece, but I guess it didn't turn out terrible, though.