Kristin in watercolour
 

My first watercolour portrait.
A bit overworked, but a heartfelt attempt.

Hi Brenda

I like your "heartfelt attempt" !
I thought always, watercolour is a hardly controllable/ editable medium. But for a first attempt, you have it under control. ;)

Brenda, I am in no position to critique, so no good to you that way. But I think it's very nice, and as Leslie says, watercolour is hard to control and well nigh impossible to edit. Nice job.

Janet

Thanks Leslie and Janet.
It didn't feel hard to control. I had always thought that about watercolors too. But I picked a very simple subject!

Brenda, I like this! Nicely done :thumbsup:

Brenda,

I like it too! I have been terrified of trying watercolor so I admire you. You have a great start in watercolor. I especially like the way you finished the hair. You have a very natural finish, a vignette that really works. I have to hand it to you. Good for you! Did you like it? What was the hardest thing about it? Easiest? Curious here.

Terri and Lisa,
Thanks for your kind words!
Lisa (and for those scaredy cats like me), the hardest thing was getting the skin tones in the first pass. I overworked the face and it shows! I've also learned to have a piece of "scratch paper" next to my watercolors so I can test tone, value and density before I muck up the painting! (Didn't figure this out until I had done the face.) And I learned that mixing wrong can lead to muddy colors, just as in oils.

I learned that paper really does matter. Before this, I had fiddled with watercolors painting flowers on bristol board. Bad idea. Bristol board is not good for watercolors. Took me a while to figure out that is why they make "watercolor paper"! This is done on inexpensive Strathmore watercolor paper. It makes a difference in the ability to layer in washes and that made doing the hair very easy.

The colors I used were just what I had on hand. Caput mortum, indian red, yellow ochre, cerulean blue, burnt sienna, some sort of deep red I can't remember the name of and some sort of green that I can't remember the name of either. I used tube watercolors and mixed them with amounts of water in one of those little plastic trays with six wells in it. This is a relatively small painting; the face is probably 5 inches high. Working small seems more manageable to me in watercolor.

I would suggest working fairly small to begin with and if faces scare you, try flowers. I would also suggest getting good watercolor paper. It really does help! I don't have special, nice watercolor brushes. I just had some junky brushes at work that I used. I can imagine how much easier it might be with good brushes!

Well, that's what I got from this first attempt at a head in watercolor. I liked it more than I thought I would. I plan to try some more! When I get to work (yes I did this at work, we've been slow lately so I've had time to play around) I will post a pic of the watercolor tray layout I used.

Well, I guess I had a couple more colors than I remembered.
I put dobs of color around the wells and then used the wells to mix in with water. I found this worked well (pardon the pun).
The colors I used are: lemon yellow, yellow ochre, raw sienna, winsor red, indian red, caput mortum, dioxazine violet, cerulean blue, sap green and burnt umber. I found that this was more than adequate to get the tones I needed.
That's probably more information than anyone needed; especially from someone who hardly knows what they're doing!

Hi Brenda,

Your doing a great job!

How nice it is to see some interest in watercolor portraits!

I have been doing commissions for watercolor portraits for about 6-7 years. I hadn't thought of posting any of them other than one I included in my introduction. I guess I look at this as more of an oil forum mainly because I am interested in changing over to oils and try to read ever bit of info I can. I keep trying to find time to do more oils but right now I have a backlog of watercolor commissions due for Christmas and one oil also due then. I will be posting for help on that one!!


As far as paper is concerned , I would get rid of the strathmore and try D'arches cold press, either 140 lb or my favorite 300 lb. You will not believe the difference. I used to have my students use strathmore and saw how they were struggling. I would do demos on arches and expected them to get the same results on their paper. I started using strathmore for my demos and AUGH, I realized that I was giving them quite a handicap. Now they all use Arches. Windsor & Newton is also nice and cheaper than Arches but I prefer the sheets not the W&N Cotman tablets.

I have enjoyed your works in progress and am learning right along with you. Thanks for posting them.

You have also inspired me to post some of my w/c portraits. :)

Cynthia

Naomi in watercolor
 

Thanks, Cynthia.
Thank you for the tip on paper. I will get the D'Arches.
Here is my second one. Still struggling to get the skin in one pass. I am too scared to just put it down as dark as I see it and so I end up diddling it on and then I get that scrubby look. I'll keep practicing. I also didn't have a clue about how to do the eyes. I was worried about using black for the pupils because I thought it would be too dark.

I would absolutely LOVE to see some of your watercolors!!! Please please post them!

Wow Brenda,
you certainly work fast. You are such a productive artist, you put me to shame. I need more time to paint!!
I am home today and have been trying to get a watercolor portrait done here in my home studio and do some housework too. The housework is winning. I have a studio in town also and do all my oil painting there as well as teach 7 classes per week . I teach all age levels and mediums. I can get so caught up in teaching and running that part of my business that I struggle to concentrate enough time on painting. The one thing that this forum has helped me with (among a million other things), is realizing the diligence it takes to become a successful full time portait artist. Well, all that aside and on to the subject at hand so I can diligently get back to work.

I wanted to encourage you to try a portrait using glazes instead of trying to get it all down with one pass. The wonderful transparent quality of watercolor makes it perfect to build up various colors in layers. By allowing one color to show through the other you can get very glowing skin tones. Try starting with a light vaue of indian red. Each layer must be completely bone dry before applying the next or you will get muddy , mottled color. You can put a glaze of yellow in the warm areas and gradually build up your darks and cool shadows.

As for the eyes, I always use black for the pupils but I mix my own black from ultramarine blue and burnt umber. The dark pupil really adds sparkle and life to the eyes. Remember to not paint the highlight on the eye. In w/c you work from light to dark so anything white is the white of the paper. Have fun!! I hope I you don't mind a few of these suggestions. As with anything there is more than one way to approach a painting. I have found these things to work well for me but if you are looking for a looser effect you may want to continue to experiment with the method you are using now.

Here are two examples of my watercolors. The image quality is not very sharp . Hope you can see them okay.


Thanks for letting me share.

Cynthia

Hi Cynthia,
I don't mind your suggestions at all. In fact, I welcome them. I will give your method a try.
These portraits you've posted are great! Thank you for sharing them. I certainly hope you post more of your watercolors in the future.
I see what you mean about glazes of color, especially in the boy's face. I love the way you did the little girl's bonnet! I wish you lived here in Louisville; I'd take classes from you. :D

Brenda -

Good for you! I especially like your first sample.

I tried a few weeks ago to do a sample profile in watercolor, but gave up in disgust. The November gala I do for my hometown may want me to do watercolor pieces, but I just don't have the knack. Charcoal and pastel will have to do!

Folks who are able to get a good likeness and rendering in watercolor have my utmost admiration.

Oh, I see I posted at the same time Cynthia's samples went up. Thanks for sharing these!

Thank you, Julie. Watercolor is kind of satisfying in that it happens very quickly (compared to an oil painting.)

There was a time when I wouldn't have had much to put into watercolors either. I wouldn't rule them out altogether if I were you. At some point you may try them again and really like them!