Saturday, June 22, 2013

National Gallery of Art - Beatrice Townsend by John Singer Sargent


I am at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC again and working on Beatrice Townsend by John Singer Sargent.  I was having some difficulty with my colors last week so researched Sargent's palette and practiced mixing some colors in preparation of this weeks visit.  I am making progress...I did a lot of work on the background the face and the little puppy.  I still have a lot to do on the face...but thank heaven I have time!  ;)  For the puppy I concentrated on the exact brush strokes to show the dog's features.  It was so fun to think that I am trying to copy the exact brush strokes!!!  It really was evident more than any other part of the painting because the strokes are so defined.  

My joke of the week...an elderly lady walked up to me and asked if I painted the one on the wall also.  I really thought she was joking so I replied that I DID but it was many years ago.  I told her I was much older than I looked.  She walked away nodding!!!  I had to run after her and tell her I was joking!  It was painted by John Singer Sargent and I had her read the information under the painting.  Whew!!!   

I was, once again, overwhelmed by the complimentary comments of the visitors to the gallery.  Most people are so very nice.  Only one man said "it kind of looks like he one on the wall"...I thought ....kinda is OK...after all it IS JOHN SINGER SARGENT for pete's sake!  


4 comments:

  1. This is lovely Maria! You are so talented! I was "racking my brain" (spelling?) trying to remember where we went when we saw a painting of John Singer Sargent on holiday here in England. I finally remembered! We went to Falmouth in Cornwall (UK) at the Falmouth art gallery, and Falmouth has the "Hemy" family there. You can go to this link... http://www.visitfalmouth.com/blog/charles-napier-hemy-a-busy-man-with-great-friends/

    and you can see the painting of Charles Napier Hemy, painted by John Singer Sargent.

    I took some watercolor lessons and that is where I first learned about John Singer Sargent. I love his paintings.

    Sorry to ramble on, but he was such a fabulous painter.

    I love this painting you have done, You are so talented. Thank you for being a friend on Facebook, if not for that, I would never see all your wonderful works :)

    Cindy

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am in awe, Maria! You are doing WONDERFUL work! This is such an incredible experience. Thanks so much for sharing it with us. Looking forward to seeing more!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Such a wonderful wonderful painting! and I love the post!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love JSS! When I was in art school and we started painting by copying four old masters, one of mine was Madame X. I've loved him ever since. What fun you must be having! And what fun YOU are with the visitors! You totally provoked my curiosity about this beautiful child Beatrice, but I can't find any good info about her online.

    Your painting looks wonderful - I can't wait to see it up close!

    ReplyDelete

Yayyy!!! Thanks for commenting!