Late Kiss

13 x 8 in  -  33 x 20 cm     Watercolor

This was a two hour challenge painting and to be honest is has started to 'get away from me'. I wanted it a lot looser than it became. While it is not quite finished I don't think adding any more of a 'finish' would improve it.

I was even late getting the painting to this stage, hence the title.

In Switzerland - J. S. Sargent COPY

10 x 14 in  -  25 x 36 cm     Watercolor    

Charles Reid warns us not to try to copy Sargent but instead to use him as inspiration. I guess, I am not one who always takes sound advice, so from time to time I try a Sargent copy.

Sargents Original (10 x 13 in)

If you are ever foolhardy enough to try one let me make two suggestions.

(a) Paint the same size as he does. You haven't a hope of comming close if you try to paint smaller. Most of his loose watercolors are arround the half imperal sheet size sometimes a bit larger as he liked to use blocks. This painting "In Switzerland" is one of the few quarter sheets.

(b) Beware the colours of the reference you are using. I took as my source. Carl Little's book - "The watercolors of John Singer Sargent". In that book the colors are shown roughly as I have coppied them but in on line Sargent gallery has a much more pumped-up version. (Which I have used as the original above or you can see the large version via the link below)

http://www.jssgallery.org/Paintings/In_Switzerland.html

(Update Oct 2014 now in private collection, Georgia USA)