Seeing the Whole - No. 24

Follow-up discussion of clarified points related to Sargent’s comments

QUESTIONS: My comment from Sargent about “spots” is from the book “Sargent” by Evan Charteris p139. Sargent’s comment to a student regarding painting a portrait: “Don’t concentrate so much on the features… they are only like spots on an apple…paint the head…” I was thinking about the idea of not looking into areas of the painting as one works so as not to see more detail than can be seen when looking at the whole, the “ensemble” (as RAM Stevenson called it) and differences in the appearance of color in an area when one looks at it with a wide or narrow focus. Sort of like the difference between a floodlight and spotlight or “paint the head not a collection of features. RICHARD