Sargent's Painting Notes

[Moderator [Rob]]

JOHN SINGER SARGENT'S PAINTING NOTES

Painting is an interpretation of tone.

...Keep the planes free and simple, drawing a full brush down the whole contour of a cheek.

...Always paint one thing into another and not side by side until they touch.

...The thicker your paint—the more your color flows.

...Simplify, omit all but the most essential elements—values, especially the values. You must clarify the values.

...The secret of painting is in the half tone of each plane, in economizing the accents and in the handling of the lights.

...You begin with the middle tones and work up from it .... so that you deal last with your lightest lights and darkest darks, you avoid false accents.

...Paint in all the half tones and the generalized passages quite thick.

...It is impossible for a painter to try to repaint a head where the understructure was wrong.

SARGENT'S PALETTE

Flake White
Naples Yellow
Yellow Ochre
English Red
Vermilion
Ivory Black
Prussian Blue

[Sam Cree]

English red! And vermillion.

[Moderator [Rob]]

Originally Posted by Sam Cree

English red! And vermillion.

Slightly better than English Red is Tuscan Red. It has greater depth and it certainly is more permanent.