Ruminations on Verisimilitude

Most of the time, well...all of the time, really, I write a blog with a clear goal in mind- I have a point that I'm trying to get across. Not so with this one. I'm thinking in the open here. I spent this past weekend chaperoning a retreat for Jr. and Sr. high schoolers from Columbia Christian schools at Camp Yamhill. As usually happens, a couple of artistic things occurred. One I'm making a video of, so you'll get to see that later, the other was a quick sketch I did of one of the students.

Lydia, by yours truly

 In my admittedly casual pursuit of better draughtsmanship, this effort frustrated, then fascinated, me.  It is generally believed that verisimilitude is the goal of a good drawing- the more it looks like what you're drawing the better it is.  In my mind I know that isn't necessarily the case but it's still what I strive for.  Or so I'm wondering...

Truthfully, when I look at Master drawings that inspire me, I look primarily at the marks the artist uses- how did he/she do that?  I've been striving for a mastery that reveals itself in efficiency- a sure, quick line that captures the subject without a lot of fuss.

Not only does the line capture efficiently, but also expressively.  I've been looking a lot at portrait drawings by John Singer Sargent and have been jealously mesmerized.  They have all the qualities I've tried to instill in my drawing, including what appears, at least, to be a high degree of verisimilitude.  What I'm beginning to discover, though, is that may not always be the case.

I'm always struck when 'non-artists' look at one of my drawings of someone and exclaim, "Wow! It looks exactly like him/her!" when I look at it and see how much it doesn't look like the person I was trying to draw.  Which is exactly what I felt upon completing this drawing.  For the first couple of days after I drew it I would look at it and almost get depressed- it was way off the mark of what I was attempting to do.

Mrs. Swinton by John Singer Sargent

 I would pull out my book of Sargent drawings and compare them to this- trying to discern how I could have done it better.  And while I have come up with a few ideas, the opposite has also occurred- I see some things that are pretty good and the drawing is 'growing' on me.  Which is fascinating for a couple of reasons

One, the further I get away from the actual drawing event, and thus after a fading of the memory of her actual face, the better the drawing looks.  There is a quality that I'll call 'specificity' that lends it the sense that it actually looks like a real person, though you may not know what the person looked like.  I have sensed this quality in Sargent's drawings and thus assumed that his portraits faithfully render his subjects' faces.  Thanks to our good friend Google, I've had the opportunity to compare some of his drawings with photos of the actual people.  Yeah, he's good, but there's a certain degree of variance that  I honestly think I fall within in terms of how much it actually looks like the person.  So I'm reassured,... somewhat.

But Sargent's works still display a confidence and an expressiveness that mine lack to a large degree.  And part of the verisimilitude that I was trying to achieve has more to do with a certain quality I perceived in her face, features that I would describe as 'strong,' that I don't feel I captured.  But what I find interesting is what is expressed, which is a certain timidity on my part.   So I find that regardless of the characteristics of my model, what I draw are representations of myself- my uncertainties, my limitations.  It takes an extreme amount of courage to do a drawing- especially one that is characterized by 'strong' features.

Maybe I'll have the opportunity to draw her again.  But certainly there will be other faces, other characterizations, other chances to make some marks on a piece of paper, and other chances to learn- about drawing and about myself.