Strain your brain more than your eye... You can copy a thing to a certain limit. Then you must use intellect.
My honors are misunderstanding, pesecution and neglect, enhanced because unsought.
The big artist .. . keeps a sharp eye on Nature and steals her tools.
The brush is a more powerful and rapid tool than the point or the stump... the main thing that the brush secures is the instant grasp of the grand construction of a figure.
How beautiful an old woman's skin is! All those wrinkles!
I once painted a concert singer and on the chestnut frame I carved the opening bars of Mendelssohn's Rest in the Lord. It was ornamental unobtrusive and to musicians I think it emphasized the expression of the face and pose of the figure.