TODAY'S FEATURED POST

INSPIRATION vs PERSPIRATION

Greg Ruth

As artists we always in making our work, dance with two partners, and we are often held to the same regard as most pop cultural ideas of art making, the artist pondering some vital landscape... the artist receiving like a ball of light the revelation of some new piece... When in fact more than 80% of the total experience of making art is sweat and grit and work. It speaks well of the distilled and…

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EVERYDAY ORIGINAL

The Hidden Garden of Knowledge

YESTERDAY’S POST

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Sargent at the Met

Lauren Panepinto

August 7, 2025 - If we were to make up a list of "Muddy Colors's Favorite Artists" I think it would be safe to say John Singer Sargent is in the top 5. He's certainly a frequent article topic and referenced quite a bit on this blog over the years. If you want some background, I did one of my Turning Points articles on him and Robert Hunt did a great one called "So What's So Great About John Singer Sargent" way back in 2021. There was also an exhibit at the Morgan Library in 2019 that was just about Sargent's charcoal portraits later in his career. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73jSSJ4TUf0[/embed] Sargent looms so large as an icon in the minds of illustrators — especially portrait and character illustrators — that it's always a bit of a surprise to me when I…

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