Weekend things

I felt like throwing some paint around last night, so I decided to start another little Sargent copy (and yes, I must be crazy ;). Still haven't finished that other one yet, but I'm planning on this one being a sketchier copy. I'll definitely go back in and refine the portrait and the hand, and add more paint in the clothing/puppy. But I don't think I'll spend a ton of time on this, and I'm just not really that concerned about it being a perfect likeness. I'm playing around with the limited palette (and gettring a brief break from drawing). This start was about two hours of painting. Sargent wasn't afraid to use black. I like that. I spent some time painting without black because someone told me that that was what I was "supposed" to do. All the "supposed-to's" :P

 I decided to grid the drawing in order to simplify the process, and doesn't that make drawing faster? I probably spent 5-10 minutes blocking this in (which is less time than it took me to calculate and draw in those grid marks, ha!). 

I've been looking at this month's start this weekend, comparing it to previous months. I'm just trying to pinpoint differences in how I began, and I don't know. I was probably a little more sensitive to the variety of line in last month's start. But I don't think I usually start in a super angular fashion--last month's start was fairly soft and rounded as well. This month's start may be a little more rounded--maybe I'm responding to that beautiful s-curve that runs from the hanging arm, through the torso, and down through the standing leg. I'm not sure. I can probably bring that bum in a little bit. I should get a few hours in on it this afternoon, so I'll try to reassess and get a little more specific about my mark making. 

I don't think I've introduced Charlie yet. He comes from the magical land of eBay and he's my new "studio" mate. He could use a serious spinal realignment, and he's a pretty dull conversationalist. But he's always smiling, and I think we'll be good friends. Skeletal studies coming soon.

And lastly, this watercolor by Sargent just about brings me to tears (I had never seen this one before--from the Met's online archive, which btw, is AWESOME). I love browsing through the full res images of their public domain pieces.