A Mountain Stream

6x8 acrylic on canvasboard

And another Sargent study. I love this one, it's simple and still immediate, somehow. You have to wonder how much of the composition was really what he saw in front of him, and how much was him rearranging what was in front of him with the canvas in mind.

I know in one of the books I have on him it mentioned how he would go out painting with his friends, and they would go all over hill and dale trying to find the "perfect" spot, and would get frustrated because he would set up just any old where and still produce the most gorgeous pieces.... of course he also gessoed over a lot of them in order to reuse the paper, so we can't see them to judge, but still. I am more than willing to believe they were all beautiful :)

#881