The Sargent Notes

More than a year ago, Putney Painter Andrea Scheidler was trolling through ebay looking for good deals on used art books when she happened upon an interesting collection of notes up for bid. She took a small chance, and purchased a copy of the Collected Notes on the Painting Methods of John Singer Sargent, and what she received exceeded her expectations. Soon Schiedler and other artists in her group, the High Street Painters, were referencing the notes regularly, and referring to the sheaf exaltedly as The Book of Juan, not after the subject, Mr. Sargent, but after the author, Juan Jr. Ramirez.

This young man, Ramirez, spent four years compiling his notes from information he gathered in books on Sargent, and from direct observation of Sargent's work in public displays. He had begun painting in oils when he was 18, in his small Chicago bedroom, while his peers fought gang battles outside his window. Painting was his refuge and his obsession, and when he found there were not the resources to study the type of art he wished to learn, he took it upon himself to absorb as much as he could from John Singer Sargent, the painter he held in esteem above all others. The notes he assembled are not a scholarly work on Sargent, but rather a collection of student notes, organized around bullet points for the ease of Juan's own study, and for study by any other artist seeking to learn more about Sargent's methods.

Since releasing his notes on ebay, Ramirez, as an artist, has come to the attention of many other working professionals. In his early twenties, Juan has already been invited to paint alongside Richard Schmid and the Putney Painters, has had his first one man show, and has been a repeated guest of Andrea Scheidler and the High Street Painters in Brattleboro, Vermont. His notes are used regularly by artist and teacher Dennis Sheehan in Sheehan's own classroom, and Juan has begun to field inquiries about offering his own workshops.

The Collected Notes on the Painting Methods of John Singer Sargent are now available on ebay for $20.00 USD. They are currently in their second printing after having been edited by Ms. Scheidler, who sought to keep the flavor of Juan's passionate search for understanding while trying to make clear any portions of the text befuddled by the author's self-proclaimed first language, "Spanglish." They comprise 35 pages of notes covering paint lay-in, color, value, drawing, edges, and procedure, all printed on high quality paper.