Sargent copy in progress

Painting like Sargent is a little harder than he makes it look :) I think it's infinitely more difficult to make something look effortless than effortful. And he was certainly a master of appearing effortless.

I don't know if this is getting any better--it may be getting worse. But this is where my little copy is at right now. I guess I'll keep chipping away at it little by little. Sometimes I think I bite off a little more than I can feasibly chew.

I probably should have started this a little bigger because getting the details around those eyes is pretty well near impossible--it may just need to be a slightly sketchier copy. Someone asked me the other day if this is more fun than doing a Bargue, and I would say that it's really not much different at all. Still that monotonous striving for perfection. But I guess what makes this a little bit better is that it's an image I was drawn to in the first place, so that makes a difference. And color and paint add a couple new dimensions of complexity (do we call that fun? ;).