fun with water

Hello Everyone These were done for WDE on Wetcanvas from images posted by a friend of mine... JoanT ...back in April... I was hard at doing the illustrations then and needed a breather ... that is what made me experiment to have fun ... I did the first one by applying very wet paint on the shadow area and drop in shades of other colourswhile it was still wet... then after it dried I added the darkest tones

7 by 10 " bockingford 140lb watercolours

This one I did by working wet on dry

10 by 6" bockingford 140lb watercolours

The last óne I soaked the whole paper with water, dropped in a few medium dark tones and when it started t dry, I started working negative shapes... that was rea fun, and the result was so soft

7 by10" bockingford 140lb watercolours

portraits again

Lately I have been painting portraits, I love doing them, hard though they are, I just cannot resist them, I feel there is a story behind each face, a character,and soul, to be able to portray all that is a gift some people possess more than athers..
I like to improve on my portraits, I never bother with likeness or anything because I am trying to capture everything else, through painting without a preliminary sketch first, the problem is I sometimes spot a mistake after I am halfway through... that is why I feel frustrated about it ...

My aim is to do a portrait with glowing colours, and in one go.. I mean without needing to fiddle or fix anything at all...

11 by 7" Arches 140lb Cp watercolours
this was done for the WDE .. this is my FOURTH attempt ... the pose was hard to carture but I liked her and wanted to capture her as best I could

10 by 7" bockingford 140lb CP watercolours

This one was so easy to paint there are some portraits that practically paint themselves ... and this sweet old man was one...  I am pleased with the results and skin tones

11 by 7" Bockingford 140lb CP watercolours

This was done from a photo in the IRL  on Wetcanvas for a portrait paint along on Paintingfriends I loved to capture the lighting on her face and her headscarf,  and the pattern,  and strong contrast

Here I actually did a quick rough sketch before colouring it ... because I had to paint away from the white areas on the face

tea and strawberries

these were done from photos posted by Misswiss , they were just fun to do ... the first one was done wet on dry and I didn´t use mask but skratched the whites on the cut strawberry  carefully so I don´t ruin the paper I painted around the highlights on the big strawberry

8 by 7 1/2" bockingford 140lb CP watercolours

This one was also done wet on dry trying to use the white of the paper for the china ...but I could have done it better with nicer tones ... then I redid the background for I had a dark huge spot somewhere ... I tried to lift it off then did it again ... I am happy with the tea though used burnt sienna and purple with a touch of burnt umber

10 by 6" bockingford 140lb CP watercolours

flamenco dancer

11 by 8" bockingford CP watercolours

I have worked a bit more on this one ... I added the red on the skirt with just a touch of orange and fixed he feet ... I feel better about it now

strawberries and coconut

this one was also done from the WDE images, bu I did it like a 20 minur´tes warm up, and had a lot of fun, using a really loose and easy style without a preliminary sketch

7 by 6" bockingford 140lb CP watercolours

vintage photo

This painting was done for the WDE frpm ref image posted by AlainJ , actually it was an old photoof his wife taken in the sixties and was in black and white

this is 14 by 11" arches 140lb CP watercolours done without pencil sketch

Working without a preliminary pencil sketch first , causes a lot of frustrations, especially as I am not doing th portrait in an abstract style...the hardest åart is to remember where the whites of the paper are preserved, and take great care with the placement of the features and then the shapes of the shadowing. All this is very carefully noted.

Sometimes I forget to add something or worse to fix a highlight that I have omitted due to my loose style, then I have to start again if the painting could not be saved

I enjoyed painting this sweet lady ... had to do without the highlights preserved on the on her right arm.But I still love it.

teenage girl and pears

Hi Everybody Sometimes when painting, I am starting on a new portrait and I feel it is going to turn out great, and I feel very good about it, then as the nature of watercolour is unpridictable, it doesn´t turn out exactly as I hoped it would. Tere are many things I like about it though.

11 by 14" Daler Rowney 140lb CP watercolours

This portrait was also done for the WDE on wtcanvas

10 by 14" Arches 140lb CP watercolours

Still life

Hi Eveybody

I like to share with you a few paintings done for the WDE challenge on Wetcanvas from images posted by IslanderNL these were done a bit loosely and I was trying to catch the highlights and deep shadows, not an easy thing since I work without sketching and it gives me a lot of freedom sometimes I spot a mistake and cannot resist going back in to fix it, big mistake when you are working in watercolours

11 by 11" arches 140lb in watercolours

6 by 11" arches140lb in watercolours

11 by 11" arches 140lb in watercolours

Hi all Thank you to everyone who is kind enough to follow my blog and leave a comment ... your comments are much appreciated... I spent all day yesterday scanning and taking photos of my work that was done during my breaks, when I felt like loosening up a bit from work... while working on the illustrations that is . I was surprised that there were many of them...

11 by 8"on Bockingford 140lb in watercolours This one was done for the WDE from image posted by 123Harry on the 23rd of March ...I tried to capture her posture and ellegance and focused on the shadow shapes and did her skirts loosely to portray movement. I didn´t put too much details so as not to distract from her sillouette.

Daddy´s girl and fresh vegetables

This one was done for the WDE for wwet canvas I enjoyed painting it and trying to capture the light and shapes of shadow, it is also done without a preliminary sketch

These radishes are  another twenty minutes warm up challenge ... actually it took less than twenty minutes because it was done in a loose style ... It was fresh and,  just bought from the vegetable market, and was begging to be painted

Portrait paintings

Hi Everybody
Thank you to everyone who is kind enough to follow my blog and leave a comment, your comments mean a lot to me.
Today I am thinking about portraits... why do so many artists find them hard to master or do?
The face for a start is a very small area full of features forms and shapes ... you have to get the proportions exactly right so your portrait looks believable not to mention likeness ... then you have to get the perspective right, then each feature has to be perfectly rendered and placed.. Oh and the posture! te model has to look relaxed and natural. We are still at the drawing stage so far ... after you get the drawing to look really good you can  start painting.
While paining you have to consider skin tones, values, shapes, and shadows,and to top it all off you get to breath life into it ... still think its hard???
I know many skilled and renowned artists who cannot do the figure/ face the same like they do still life or animal portraits or lanscapes.
I guess it needs years of practice,  and of course sketching everywhere you go, and painting everyday to get there...
I usually get inspiration from many portrait artists and each time I marvel at the standard of their skill.
I can never gire of looking and feeling inspired by TedNutall´s work. Take a look.
http://www.tednuttall.com/paintings%20page%201.html

Stil Life

Hello everyone

Today I feel so relieved that finally,  I have finished the book illustrations I have been working on for the last few months ... they are twenty in all .. . And I can safely say they take a lot of time, thought , work on concept, character design and dertails ... I mean this is the longest and hardest  project I have worked on ever...I will post some of the illustrations soon

Maybe now I will have more time to paint for fun and start sharing my work with you...

This still life was done for the WDE on wetcanvas I have never painted mongos before but I was pleased with the result... we are supposed to paint for two hours then stop and scan or take a photo of our work then post it ... anyway this one took one hour to do 

This one was also done for the WDE on Wetcanvas and took me a bit more than one hour

The thing about WDE is that you are challenged to work outside your comfort zone, and this helps you grow and develop new skills

More twenty minutes warm up challenge

More Twenty minutes warm up challenge

A vase and landscapes