Kristin in watercolour

Brenda Ellis · 09-21-2005, 01:22 PM

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

Leslie Bohoss · 09-21-2005, 02:05 PM

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.

Janet Kimantas · 09-21-2005, 05:11 PM

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

Brenda Ellis · 09-22-2005, 04:41 AM

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!

Terri Ficenec · 09-22-2005, 09:36 AM

Brenda, I like this! Nicely done

Lisa Ober · 09-23-2005, 04:08 AM

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.

Brenda Ellis · 09-23-2005, 09:14 AM

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.

Brenda Ellis · 09-23-2005, 11:22 AM

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!

Cynthia Feustel · 09-23-2005, 12:03 PM

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!!

Quote:

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.

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

Brenda Ellis · 09-23-2005, 12:36 PM

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!