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.