Exercise: Select Subjects at Random

Sir Edmund Gosse recalls how John Singer Sargent selected a painting subject. Here is Sir Edmund's description of Sargent's approach:

"He was accustomed to emerge [from the house where he was staying in Broadway, England], carrying a large easel, to advance a little way into the open, and then suddenly to plant himself down nowhere in particular, behind a barn, opposite a wall, in the middle of a field. The process was like that in the game of musical chairs where the player has to stop dead, wherever he may happen to be, directly the piano stops playing. The other painters were all astonished at Sargent’s never 'selecting' a point of view, but he explained it in his half-articulate way. His object was to acquire the habit of reproducing precisely whatever met his vision without the slightest previous 'arrangement' of detail, the painter’s business being, not to pick and choose, but to render the effect before him, whatever they may be."

In essence, Sargent he made subject selections at random to ensure that he was able to depict any scene he was presented. This sounds like a great way to enhance an artist's skill because artists are never able to control some aspects of the subjects they select.