White Horse

White Horse 12x16 2010

I usually have a good idea of where I want to go with a watercolor and what I want to say. In this particular painting, it was the white horse that spoke to me. I knew I wanted to dramatize him running and I wanted a painting, not a copy of the reference photo. I often start out with the bones of a good painting only to get lost in the middle and end, especially the background and foreground. To this end, I decided to paint this in my weekly watercolor class where my instructor could suggest ways to improve. I'll list a few of her suggestions. (1) To make the white horse stand out, you must make the background darker. The horse and background behind the white one must be dark. (2) Don't make the other horses too important by adding too much detail - in them or their surroundings. (3) In reverse, make the white horse very important. (4) Before you call it done, wait a day or two, then really scrutinize the painting. If something bothers you, it needs fixing. Don't be afraid to "scrub" out, redraw, fix. I'm pleased with the results.

Little Girl

Little Girl 9x9 2010

This portrait was done during the weekly portrait class. I'm including the steps I took in completing this painting.

Reference photo

Little Boy

Little Boy 9x9 2010.

This portrait was done in my portrait class. Except for the background, it is all my drawing and painting. One of these days I will know what to do for a background as each one is different. In the reference, the boy was looking into a fish tank with his reflection showing in the water. He looked as if he was deep in thought wondering how the fish lived and breathed. It was a fun painting to do.

Meal Bonding

"Meal Bonding" 14x20 2010 Arches 140 lb cold press.


This was a fun painting to do -kind of painted itself! I got the reference from WetCanvas image library and modified it some. The hardest part was to keep the stripes separate.

Proud

Proud 12x16 2010.

I found the reference for this watercolor in our local city's website this past Memorial Day. In the photo the girl was missing most of her teeth. I thought about painting her that way, but figured it would draw too much attention to her mouth. The hands were troublesome as the fingers twist around each other while holding the flag. This was a good practice painting. Not only in the subject, but also in the background.

Cutting Out the Dog

Cutting Out the Dog 11x15 2010 Arches Cold Press.

This portrait was done in my portrait class. The painting is entirely my own with the exception of the hands, which my instructor redid. The hardest part of doing a portrait like this is the drawing. I don't trace and since I'm still learning, my instructor did correct the drawing mistakes. Each one I do does gets better. The original portrait had the girl cutting out a piece of black fabric. I thought of paper dolls and my instructor thought of repeating the dog that was on her shirt.

A Big Wave

A Big Wave 7x10 hot press.

For the past month, I've been involved with the WDE (Weekend Drawing Events) on the Wet Canvas site. The object is to create a painting from one of the many photos shown each Friday. Two hours are given to create and results are posted whether the painting is done or not. This week I decided to do the little boy standing in the water. I worked on hot-press paper and was thrilled with the results. It took less than an hour including the drawing.