64 Artists & Illustrators
PROJECT
Go for the big mixes first, like the
shirt and shadow. For the shirt, a mix
of Raw Sienna, Ultramarine Blue,
Titanium White and a little Vermillion
Red will help to offset the strong
green. Lay down the highlight areas
using Titanium White with a bit of
Vermillion Red and Raw Sienna.
Sargent worked his marks into and
onto adjacent brushstrokes already
on the canvas to give more subtle
variations in colour and tone.RESOLVING THE PAINTING
With bigger areas of tone placed, you
are ready to resolve the picture. Hold
off the urge to paint the facial features
just yet and instead lay in the accents.
Sargent believed in “economy of
effort in every way, the sharpest
self-control, the fewest strokes
possible to express a fact, the least
slapping about of purposeless paint.”
Use big brushes and try to lay down
the accents only once. If it isn’t in the
right spot, scrape it off and try again.
He once described the process of
painting an eye like “dropping a
poached egg on a plate”. The socket
should be prepared for the details; if
you have painted an eye in the wrong
place, it means that the structure
underneath was off. He never
repainted or lowered or raised it.
He would ruthlessly smudge or scrapeit back with his palette knife to tackle
the problem afresh. On the subject of
accents, he said: “You must classify
the values. If you begin with the
middle tone and work up from it
towards the darks – so that you deal
with your highest lights and darkest
darks last – you avoid false accents.”
To apply that logic to your painting,
draw in the eye socket first and then
place the bigger shapes. If the drawing
doesn’t sit right, smudge and start
again. When you’re happy the drawing
works, paint the highlights and
accents, putting them in wet into wet.
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