April Daily #1: Copy After John Singer Sargent's Portrait of James Whitcomb Riley

My main goal with this copy was to study Sargent’s values. I had always heard he only used 7 values including black and white, but on this one, I counted 10 including black and white. In the past, I have tried to use only 7 values in some of my portraits and felt like I was cheating if I had to add more in order to properly turn the form. I will feel guilty no more! Certainly, economy of values gives strength to a painting, so it’s a sound concept. I was just surprised at how many values Sargent used in this one, which is one of my favorites because of its almost tangible sense of form!

I’m having fun with this daily April painting challenge and already learning a lot!

Sargent's original painting is in the public domain. See the website of the museum whose collection contains this painting: http://collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/56232/ 

This painting will be trimmed nicely from the larger surface and I will sign it "Clague After John S. Sargent."