At The Easel

Man Reading

First Version


Second Version

Re-worked second version

Girasoli

Un po' di Sole

A bit of Sun

Persimmons with Grapes

2009

2011

I looked at a piece I had done 2 years ago and wondered what it would look like if I re-did it.
Oil 11 x 14

The new one is more polished and perhaps technically better...but I think there is still something appealing about the roughness of the older one.I really am torn between these two approaches: the "painterly" style that is loose and rough...and the tighter, more precise realistic style.

I like them both and I appreciate what it takes to work well in each style.

The cloth doily is better in the second version.
2 years ago, my standards were not very high....if it looked at all like cloth with folds, I was content

Delafosse

A portrait of Leon Delafosse by John Singer Sargent hangs in the Seattle Art Museum.
80% of the painting is black..only the face and one hand are showing in the light.
For this reason, perhaps, one's attention is rivetted on the face. It is a stunningly beautiful use of paint...there is genius and mastery in every brushstroke.
Well, I tried to re-produce it and in the process came to admire the orginal all the more.
When face to face with the original painting the strokes look thick and wet,decisive and masterful...which they are !

Mine are tentative, timid and unsure....hence my great admiration of Sargent's expertise.


Oil on canvas board 11 x 14 inches

Maiden with Jugs

First Marks