Monday, June 28, 2010

WIP portrait

Hello all
A quiet thank you  to everybody who is so kind as to follow my blog ... and to those who left the sweet thoughtful comments...
I have been asked many times about how I paint portraits without any under sketching,  and about my techniques ... well ... I haven´t settled on MY technique yet ... like many out there I am experimenting with the many many techniques in this magical medium ... watercolours ... and every time I pick up my brush I learn a littly or discover a new trick that might or might not work.

I this portrait I used a vry wet wash of cad red mixed wirh a little burnt sienna ad a touch of yellow ochre for the skin tone ...  I drop in some ceruleu blue for the part of the face that is in the shade ...

I start with midtones because I usually leave the lighter tones as white paper. At the same time I start to paint negative shapes to define the other side of the face which is the backgroud.


Now I start to paint the features ... eyes,nose and lips ... painting away from the whites that I want to preserve ... at the same time just hinting at the glasses ... I try to copy the shapes without too many details.

Here I also drop in more colour in the skin tones .I let it dry completely


I put in the darkest tones, and shadows ... it looks  terrible at this stage ... but I lay a wash of clean fresh water all over the face aroud the features to soften the brush marks... and tweak in general



The final result

11 by 7 bockingford 140lb CP in lefranc et bourgouis artist´s wtercolours

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