Beatrice Townsend - copy after John Singer Sargent

I usually spend a few hours working on my Bargue project on Saturdays, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it yesterday. It's like pulling teeth right now, and I need to buckle down and do it so I can move on to casts--but finding the motivation isn't easy. Instead I stayed home and worked on an image that makes me want to paint :) This little Miss Beatrice. And isn't it a wonderful painting? (you can look up a really nice hi-res image of the original on wikiart if you aren't familiar with it).

I love Sargent so much. I want to move like him when I paint. He's so fluid and lyrical, yet maddeningly accurate. I don't expect I'll ever paint anything like him, but I sure do wish I could--it doesn't hurt to shoot for the moon, does it? :) I learn a lot about his process by doing these copies--little things that I hope to be able to apply in my own work. He seems to put in the large masses in average values, then lay down darks/lights over and into that average tone. He turns form in flesh with very subtle temperature differences (something I didn't do too well here--maybe I'll try a larger head at some point). He doesn't push paint around on the surface once it's there. He decides exactly what he wants and where he wants it, puts it on with finesse, and leaves it. And every mass/shape has a bridge or connection of some sort with the next one that helps tie the painting together as a whole. Anyway, I just love him. And I really wish he had written a book or something, but I guess he was too busy making crazy beautiful paintings. I don't mind learning from him in this way.