Friday Favorites


William Merritt Chase 1849 - 1916

William Merritt Chase was fluent in many mediums; using oil, pastel, watercolor, and printmaking methods.  He was especially fluent in oil and pastel.  I have been enjoying reading about this American Impressionist in a beautiful book that includes his many pastel paintings, written by Ronald G. Pisano.                
                        

A native of Indiana, his family later moved to St. Louis, where he became active in the St. Louis art community, winning prizes for his paintings at local exhibition. Chase's talent elicited the interest of wealthy St. Louis collectors who arranged for him to study in Europe.  He returned to the United states in 1878 to live in New York.  He was a highly skilled artist representing the new wave of European-educated American talent.

Meditation

pastel on canvas

20 x 16

His pastels are amazing! They are so painterly....you almost seem to see the brushstrokes!  This pastel is one of Chase's most exhibited and reproduced pastels. His wife was the model.

One of the most bizarre happenings associated with this pastel was reported in an article, New York Mail and Express 1893

"...'I never before realized,' said the artist, 'that a mental shock could cause physical pain.  But I learned it the other day when I found some vandal in Chicago had RUBBED OUT THE FACE of my pastel portrait of my wife.  The canvas is well known here, and has been frequently exhibited.  I had been offered $1,500 ($40,000 in today's dollars) but refused.  I sent the work to the (1893) Chicago World's Fair and found that someone had rubbed out the face, probably thinking it was done in oil. I don't know how it was done, but the news of it made me ill.' "

Wow! Can you imagine that happening to your artwork in a public display? No wonder he was upset!

My only question is, why would this pastel on canvas not have been protected under glass?  Was that typical in that day? If I can find more info on this incident I'll let you know.  If anyone out there would know additional information, I'd like to learn more.

Here is another beautiful work of his, once again a pastel.  Amazing!

Back of Nude

Pastel

18 x 13

In the 1890s, John Singer Sargent averaged fourteen portrait commissions per year, none more beautiful than the genteel Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, 1892!  I still remember when I first saw this amazing work--sadly not in person but in a lovely book, 'Sargent' by Carter Ratliffe.  I was awestruck...still am!  Maybe someday I will be fortunate enough to see this lovely painting in person!

It now resides in the National Galleries of Scotland.  Andrew Noel Agnew, a barrister who had inherited the baronetcy and estates of Lochnaw in Galloway, Scotland, commissioned this painting of his young wife, Gertrude Vernon (1865-1932), in 1892.  The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London, and made Sargent's name.  Portrait commissions poured in and Sargent enjoyed something of a cult following in Edwardian society.

John Singer Sargent
'Lady Agnew'
oil on canvas

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Portrait Drawing HOW TO, A Step-By-Step Drawing Demonstration - 4 Essentials Steps!

This portrait drawing was done for the art challenge in September and I promised to show 

my drawing demo steps to you.

So here below, are photos of the 4 essential steps in my portrait drawing. 

Step 1) Geometric Shapes and Angle of the Gesture: 

Here I have lightly sketched the oval shape for the head, and the overall angle of the body moving diagonally from upper left to lower right of the page. --The diagonal provides strength to the composition.
Once I felt good about all the shape relationships I continued to progress

from large shapes to the smaller shapes

and blocked in the facial features, more clearly, now .

Step 2) Vertical and Horizontal Checks: 

 In this step, it is critical to get the largest shapes possible decided upon
 and to slowly get the proportions correct.

 A helpful tip is to check how things line up vertically as well as horizontally. 

What I mean is, if you put a vertical imaginary line along the hairline,

 it would be in line with the outside of the arm and shadow shapes of the skirt.  

And an example of lining up horizontally, would be the top of the shoulder lines up with the outside corner of the eye.

Step 3)  In the Beginning Soft and Loose:  

 So in the beginning there is a lot of checking relationships back and forth, erasing, correcting and making sure the foundation of the drawing is correct. 

But in this stage I kept the lines very soft and loose, and easy to erase. Many of the extra lines just get covered up in the shading. So the drawing, at this time, is a very loose and changing sketch before the shading is started. Once I have decided for sure on the correct proportions and lines, then I can darken those lines and pursue the shading more seriously.

Step 4) Darks are Key!: 

 Next I block in the values or shading and try to find the darkest darks.

Here I am progressing with the shading and paying close attention to seeing the value shapes of darks and lights.  Working on the values and keeping the darks consistent throughout the drawing is key.

More shading is put in and I deepen the dark values where they need it. Then finally

much attention is given to the edges of the value shapes. I ask myself, are the edges crisp and hard or fuzzy and soft?  So a lot of sensitive adjusting to the edges happens at this time. Generally, most of the focused or crisper edges are at the focal point, which is the face and the diagonal created by the arm and legs. 

And the portrait is finished!


So there it is!  I hope you found this demo helpful. Would you like to see more step-by -step demos?
Don't hesitate to drop me a line.....
Thank you for visiting!

Day 28, Day 29, Day 30 in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Art Challenge

Yay! I did it!

As I scroll down and look at the work of the last month

I feel very good about my 26 drawings and paintings!  I certainly forced myself to speed up 

in order to complete the work by the deadline each day,

and I learned a whole lot more about blogging and photographing my work... which is tremendous! 

Here is a portrait demo from Day 28, 29, 30 of the Art Challenge. I was able to work on it a little  these last few days.  This portrait completes the challenge.  I hope you enjoyed seeing my daily art work!  

My goal is to continue posting work and future progressions so that you may see what's going on at my drawing table......after the challenge! 

Thank you for visiting!

I started this portrait study by loosely blocking-in large shapes and values.  As I worked, I adjusted the angle of the head. 

During the progression, I made adjustments and refined the features of the face.

Here is the completed graphite portrait.

Day 26 30 Paintings in 30 Days Art Challenge

'Rolling Cumulus'

Pastel on Canson

8" x 12"

Through this cloud series I have been hoping to capture the ever changing
tremendous art of the skies.
It also has been fun to create the skies in color these last few posts. Either way graphite or pastel, I enjoy creating them! 

Day 25 "30 in 30 Art Challenge"

Summer Cirrus 

Pastel on Wallis Sanded Paper 

9" x 12"

As I was working on this sky, I couldn't help but think about wonderful 

summers growing up. It would be so much fun to lay in the grass

and look up to a beautiful sky filled with wispy Cirrus Clouds.  Ahhh....

We are on Day 25 of the challenge.  This piece gets me current!
 Five more to go!