Monday, February 20, 2017

Apple of Her Eye Watercolor Portrait

Apple of Her Eye
6 x 6 Aquabord

My cousin's daughter is adorable. For this little painting I decided to not rely on my usual burnt sienna for skin tones. Instead I used Winsor & Newton raw umber warmed up with a little scarlet lake. Raw Umber is a wonderful neutral. She was wearing a very colorful top so I pulled a lot of the reflected color into her face as well as using these colors on the apple (manganese blue, scarlet lake and new gamboge). I've never used raw umber for caucasian skin tones preferring it for hair but this worked so I'm going to give it another shot in the future.

In the end, getting the values correct is the main thing and then it doesn't matter what colors you use.

I posted a progress photo of this painting Instagram.  Come follow me!

Wednesday, February 08, 2017

Little Green Dress

I'm flexing my portrait and figure muscles again. It feels good. I've been going back and forth between working on illustrations and then "fine art" paintings. I'm also working on Aquabord which is a favorite surface. I love the way you can layer and layer and not muddy the colors and then you can lift back layers. The other big plus is not having to stretch or mat the final art. A little glossy varnish brightens the colors and then you can just put it in a frame like an oil or acrylic painting. The best of both worlds.


Sunday, February 05, 2017

Back to Watercolor Portraiture


I've spent some time this last week finishing the above portrait of Dani to enter into the Missouri Watercolor Society's International Show and then in a sudden spur I painted 3 dog portraits in two days which I posted on Instagram. It's been a fun switch between working on sketches for another children's book. They're different forms of art requiring different parts of my brain.
I can't choose just one to focus on.

Drippy Daffodils

6 x 6 in. watercolor on Aquabord Daffodils are one of my favorite flowers and dozens of little clusters have been appearing in my yard s...