Sargent's Watercolor Mountains

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The Mountains are Calling

John Singer Sargent, Majorca, watercolor over pencil on paper, 1908, Private Collection

Hearing the call of the mountains led to today's post.  While I'm not among the mountains, I can gaze upon images of them (Sargent's) and scheme.  John Singer Sargent traveled though mountains in multiple

 countries and brought sketchbooks along.  I am looking forward to some time in the mountains, although not in the Swiss Alps, Dolomites or Spain, with my watercolors as well.  I hope to learn from Sargent's layering of similar hues, his loose brushwork, and white areas left untouched. 

John Singer Sargent, Mount Cervin, Alps, watercolor and gouache over pencil on paper, 1905, Private Collection

John Singer Sargent, Open Valley, Dolomites, watercolor and gouache on paper, c.1913-14, Metropolitian Museum of Art, New York


John Singer Sargent, Switzerland 1869 Sketchbook, Metropolitian Museum of Art, New York

John Singer Sargent, Bay of Uri, Brunnen (from Switzerland 1870 Sketchbook,) watercolor, gouache and graphite on paper, 1870 Metropolitian Museum of Art, New York

John Singer Sargent, Snow, watercolor and graphite on paper, c.1909-1911, Metropolitian Museum of Art, New York


John Singer Sargent, Simplon Pass, Avalanche Track, watercolor and opaque watercolor with wax resist over graphite on paper, c.1909-1911, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA


John Singer Sargent, In the Dolomites, watercolor and graphite on paper, 1914, Private Collection


Do you have a favorite mountain scene painted by Sargent?  What mountains do you like to paint?

Happy Trekking!

Robin Hood. Illustrator Anne Yvonne Gilbert.

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Robin Hood by Nicky Raven.
ISBN 978-5-389-05778-4, 2014.
Illustrator Anne Yvonne Gilbert. 

Update: Above The Timberline

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Greg Manchess

After a week at IMC with a fantastic roster of instructors and a bunch of wonderful illustration and gallery students, I’m back to painting away on Timberline. I had hoped to get a few started while there, but alas, the students come first, so I only used one to work on for a demo.

Tau

We had a great time talking paint together. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as much through a painting demo. I shared how my mind works while laying down strokes. I think everyone was a little surprised and elated that things don’t always go as planned and I have to think on the fly. Just like they do. Just like I did when starting out, and still have to even now.

I’m about to hole up in Oregon for a full month of focused painting. I’ve got 60 more spreads to conquer to be finished. Not sure I can make it now, but the paint is feeling good, and so are the characters, shapes, values, light, scenes, etc.

Way station

My main characters have been shot for reference, and July will be spent painting most of them, including Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy and guest instructor at IMC, playing the part of Sam.

I’m also beginning to refine some of the more complex visuals, like inside the Polaris Geographic Society and…beneath the lost city!

WHEN THE WALKING LINE PAUSES

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Paul Klee famously said, "a line is a dot that went for a walk." 

 
But some lines deliberately stop along the way.  Let's consider why.

Paul Coker Jr.'s line pauses, digs down, then springs forward again. 

This gives his line additional energy,  as if it is propelled on its path by booster rockets.

Like Coker's line, Robert Fawcett's line here lingers at strategic spots on its walk:

 

Fawcett doesn't pause out of uncertainty.  Rather, he punctuates his line as a way of emphasizing his commitment.

Here we see Ronald Searle's line stopping, backing up, and digging in again like successive blows by a sculptor chiseling into stone: 

Searle's technique adds character and musculature to his line. 

Another good example is Mort Drucker's trademark bouncing line. 

Drucker's line loops around, bestowing a springiness that could never be achieved in lines that walk the shortest path between two points.

These lines all walk with a hesitation step.  They're very different from the flowing, sinuous line of artists such as Hirschfeld.

 

The mark left behind at these stopping points records the added pressure of a wrist and the increased flow of ink-- but mostly they remind viewers that an active brain has chosen to renew its commitment to a line at this precise spot.  They reveal a series of choices rather than a single choice.   They are the graphic equivalent of leaving behind a trail of exclamation marks.  

In the right hands, these choices can greatly increase the character and strength of a line.