Sargent Study

John Singer Sargent Portrait Study

This was an interesting endeavor. Perhaps you’ve seen this painting in a book or in online images. it is from a painting titled Daughters of Edward Darley. It depicts Darley’s four daughters. She is the girl to the far left. This is head and shoulders of a full body, interior room painting. When I began this painting I was not aware of the many delicate color and tonal variations in the highlight area of her face. There is little point in trying to duplicate each brushstroke, but I did work diligently to create her likeness and the overall look. It was tedious to paint but enjoyable in a way. I did a pretty good job. I’m not sure what I learned in this process but learning is always an incremental and cumulative process. I can never paint a portrait in a day – I am definitely not a fast painter. Below is the painting progression which took place over 5 days.

There’s an online site for painters which looked at my paintings as they considered whether my paintings would be appropriate for their site. One of the reasons they liked my site was that I very often showed a painting progression, as above, whereas most painters do not. It’s never pretty – but I’m not concerned. I forgot the initial sketch even this time. I don’t know if there’s any real interest but I’ll try to do a bit more of this in the future. In the end, I was invited to the site but decided not to participate. It felt too much like social media.

Below is one of my favorite digital paintings and favorite memories.

Trombone Playing Teamwork

The story is captured in the painting. Its a digital painting I did years ago. I was in New York. I descended the steep stairs to Grand Central Station to board a train and was delighted and astonished to see this little girl playing her trombone while her little brother held the music. The trombone case held the money thus far collected. Only in New York I thought. I ask for permission and stood for a few minutes to observe the performance and to photograph them. I love the color variation throughout. Why don’t I do that now? I felt so free and creative when I was digital because if I messed up, I could throw away one layer and try something else. Not so with oil paint but I’m getting there.

THE RESISTANCE: It depresses me to think about the ongoing nightmare we live in. The resistance gives hope but I saw an interview yesterday which I think is critical and may serve us well. I would predict that there is absolutely NO WAY Donald can make it though the remainder of his term. The problem is that the MAGA Republicans have all been so “potty trained” to behave with the same level of cruelty and lawlessness. He might go but what follows? May 1, 2025 – I watched a NEWS NATION interview. If I had any doubt about Donald’s COGNITIVE decline, no doubt lingers. Donald has long had trouble maintaining a single coherent line of thought but it has become much worse. Donald was ask about his position toward HARVARD and his desire the cancel Federal Research dollars, control hiring, student selection and the curriculum. His response shocked and totally perplexed the entire panel and me. He wove a long rambling response started with comments about HARLEM ( which initially I thought he misunderstood for the word Harvard but that was not it. He then spoke of Black support in the election, then he made comments about of billions of research dollars he would cancel at Harvard, then back to Harlem where he said they wanted to do remedial math like (2+2) he said, then back to comments about horrible foreign students at Harvard. His brain is a scrambled mess. Perhaps you saw the ABC interview where Donald was insistent that the M I 13 text which he has been shown on a photo of the fist of Garcia, and firmly believes this text is real. It was explained to Donald that this Arial font had been Photoshoped onto a photo of Garcia’s hand. He was told it is not real but Don was insistent, even combative, siting over and over and over and over again that it is real. Garcia’s hand by comparison has been photographed recently in El Salvador, and does not show any such graphic information. Donald’s mind is not in good shape. For any who were concerned about President Biden, Donald is far worse. President Biden would sometimes forget but he never went off on multiple incoherent tangents. Trumps playbook is to be mean, unapologetic and cruel.

And now, Congressional Republicans have voted that Don can deport American citizens to El Salvador. Can you believe any of this!!! Don, a mad man surrounded by incompetent hateful lackeys. It’s all so dangerous. Winifred

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Portrait Abstract

Portrait Abstract Oil Painting 12×16 by Winifred Whitfield

See below: I thought I’d show you a bit of the beginning. I didn’t know where I’d go with this when I started. You can see I could have developed it in a more refined traditional manner to. I chose, however, to be more daring and to see if I could actually pull it off. I’ve tried before without good results in my opinion. But those were steps toward becoming a bit more experienced and confident in a more abstracted portrait look which is not natural for me. I both enjoyed the process and and I actually like it.

Initial block-in

Above: Notice the fine lines white lined on the forehead. and off to the left. Those are remnants of a grid I sketched in order to place the features accurately.

Block-in 2 – some values added.

Overall, I spent quite a bit of time developing the sketch and block-in over, which I painted. I didn’t want too much assistance with the features, however, because that doesn’t facilitate developing stronger drawing skills. I don’t have to use a grid and most of the time I don’t use one at all. It just takes longer to get things right.

Thank you for sharing my art journey. Feel free not to read any further of you have no interest in my political opinions. This won’t hurt my feelings. Winifred

RESISTANCE FOR DEMOCRACY: First of all, I want to say, I stand with Senator Cory Booker! Amazing 25 hour + filibusterer in the Senate in opposition Donal/Elon criminality and attack to needed services in this country I stand with Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Chris Murphy, Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and Jasmine Crockett. They are strong leaders of the resistance.

I decided “resistance” is a better theme than Ranting! Other than blowing off steam momentarily – which can feel good – it doesn’t move one forward in fact or in consciousness. So, I decided to focus on “the peoples resistance”. Despite what both of those crazy men – Donald and Elon – continue to do, ground roots efforts persist and are making progress. A great example of course is the election a couple days ago of liberal Supreme court Justice in Wisconsin who struggled against the financial support of Elon who funded her opposition but the opposition LOST. That’s a big deal. Town Hall meetings are attracting thousands of loud and angry citizens who are calling for Republican and Democratic leaders to do more to stop service reductions desperately needed by regular citizens and veterans of this country and the ruin of the economy. Then there is direct resistance to Elon and Tesla, where both demonstrations and declining purchases, are tanking Elon’s brand and wealth. In response, he exclaims how cruel it is that people express how happy they are to see his stock prices decline!!!! He waves his chain saw in glee, excited to lead cuts in federal programs but is surprised people are happy when he experiences misfortune. This is INSANITY and TOTAL LACK OF EMPATHY – plain and simple. Both Elon and Donald are deranged and have the same disease! And then there are the horrors of immigration!!

And now the tariffs extended to all countries! Things are moving in a very bad direction. Fortunately the resistance is growing – including resistance by those who foolishly voted for him because they thought his measures wouldn’t affect them – just all those other people. Now they know, he only cares about his billionaire buddies. It’s good to see them falling into line.

WE COULD HAVE HAD A WOMAN IN CHARGE – a smart qualified woman. These things wouldn’t be happening but this country and it’s many segments of the population have failed to support a woman as president. I BELIEVE the problem was far more that a female was contender, than that she is Black. Oh well, lets see what another week brings. Winifred

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Vintage

Vintage 13×12 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

This painting was challenging and enjoyable. I couldn’t think of a good or clever name for it. This is the same young lady with all the curls I painted and posted a couple weeks ago. In the end I cropped my painting because I had an issue with her hand which was not right in the reference photo and I just couldn’t correct it. That’s fine – as paintings get cropped all the time. Not a lot to talk about today – probably a good thing. Have a great weekend. Winifred

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Cinnamon Curls

I took a break from painting portraits the past few weeks to paint still lifes. I’m so glad I did. It made this stylistic shift in my portrait painting much easier. I looked at the original version of this painting this morning – fresh eyes. It had a solid blue background with a deep shadow on the left.These attributes were reflected in the reference photo I took recently – but it wasn’t working. Her name is Cinnamon. She’s a pretty girl with beautiful cinnamon curls. But overall the entire painting was just normal – quite boring I thought. The only thing I was happy about was her face. I had avoided over blending her face – it was painterly, but I needed to do more. I made paint mixtures of orange/gold and burnt sienna and started creating big, loose swirls of curls, alternating the colors and moving all over her head. Can you imagine my fear! However, I liked the effect right away. Energy was emerging. Then I envisioned adding green and gold as background colors rather than just blue. I mottled in the new colors. The painting was transformed. I enhanced the highlights of the face and it was basically done – for now. Abstracting portrait elements for some reason is scary for me but it’s my intention to move beyond my fear. As days go by I will likely make more changes. That’s what usually happens. Thank you for looking. Winifred

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Beads in her Hair

Beads in Her Hair 9×12 Oil Painting by Winifred Whitfield

My painting this week was influenced a little by the Rembrandt study I posted last week, though the beads in her hair give it a pop of modernity. I like it. I enjoy the portrait look of the Old Masters which continues to influence many modern painters. The poses, the lighting, and even the expressions have a certain look. The reference image for this p ainting was a young girl about 10 years old, wearing a very colorful sundress sitting in a swing on a playground in bright sun. This is why she is lit from above. I subdued the lighting atop of her head to keep the focus on her face. I also subdued her expression, making it a little more serious. I wanted to add a pop of color and decided on turquoise which is a nice compliment to the gold and orange colors on her face. So far, I haven’t wanted to change the painting but I make no promises.

The painting is showing up in this post a bit darker than I see it but I know it will vary on every device anyway. There’s nothing I can do about that. Enjoy your day. Winifred

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