Sargent copy in progress

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I'm trying out some new paper (Arches Ingres) with this little Sargent copy. It's getting to the point where the changes feel really nit-picky and subtle. So I'm really going to have to dig in and get serious :P I'm trying to imagine I'm drawing this guy from life and go about it with a similar process (Mr. Sargent has done all the hard stuff for me, so I can just focus on my process). I've been thinking about drawing from life sort of like learning a new language. For a while (from what I've heard) you have to think quite mechanically about how each word translates. But eventually you have command of the language, and you don't even have to think about it (at this point, you start dreaming in the new language, I'm told). So I think eventually I might be able to be fluent in the language of drawing, but at the moment it's still a pretty mechanical process. And sometimes things do get lost in translation.



Speaking of lost in translation, I tried to paint this scene en plein air this weekend. Ohhh boy. Ain't no way I'm going to show you what I came up with (only the garbage can at the park gets that privilege ;). Wouldn't it be a pretty picture though?

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