Study of Sargent's Grays and Whites
21 of 30
One of my goals this year, and every year actually, is to work on grays and whites. I think that John Singer Sargent's whites are some of the best out there. When I see his work in a museum, especially his whites, I walk back and forth, look up close and from far away. His whites are mesmerizing. So, how did he get those whites? I want to paint whites like he did!
There are a million ways to get whites and grays. To help me I looked closely at his painting, Corner of The Church of St Stae Venice. Then, I tried to make all of his colors. I started with the colors at the bottom of my color chart, and used only those to get the colors that I saw in the painting. I understand that Sargent used Lead white, I'm using Titanium white.
Now, I'm going to go through all of my photos from our trip last May to Italy and paint a piece using his colors.
Here is a link to a post all about Sargent's palette: http://underpaintings.blogspot.com/2009/09/color-palettes-john-singer-sargent-1856.html?m=1
Maybe I should try this again using his exact palette.
Who is one of your favorite artists? Have you tried to use his palette?
5 comments:
wow...what an undertaking! I am so impressed--I can't wait to see the painting. The chart HAS to be a wonderful resource. High five!
Love that Sargent painting; it really is beautiful! I'm trying to figure out what lead white might look like...
Thank you for sharing this information. I tend to use the same mixture for gray, over and over. I need to branch out -so thanks for inspiring me to try some new combinations.
Celeste, Thank you. The chart took a long time. But, amazingly it was fun to paint. But, now for the real fun!
Thank you Sherry. Lead white is warm and creamy. Titanium is opague and bright.
Maria, Thank you. I, too, tend to use the same grays. I think we all do if we use the same palette over and over. But, this is almost my normal palette and way more grays than normal!
I really enjoyed this post and the link to Sargent's palette. Thank you for your efforts. Colors charts may seem boring to some, but there is so much to learn!
Post a Comment