TGIF!
I hope you all are having a fabulous start to your Friday! I have had a great morning and I'm all geared up to go full speed ahead with this portrait today! To see the picture and where I started with this click here.
Here I am just showing my process of layering..
First, I start with my cool pinks (a light wash in Crimson Red) in the face and neck.. Then I quickly move onto my yellows (watered down Cadmium Yellow) to bring out the glowing spots and the warmer toned part of the skin. I let this layer dry, and then proceed to my warm reds, which I love to use (Brilliant Red with a touch of Cadmium Yellow). After this layer is dry, I darken my shadows with wet washes of blue (Ultramarine Blue with a touch of Crimson Red and Burnt Umber). You have to be super careful with this step as the blues really tend to stain the paper and there is little grace when trying to lift it. So be sure that the paper is very wet and workable, and be ready to lift the paint quickly if necessary!
Next I start to layer in the arms. I figure I may as well, since I'm already working with these same colors for the face and neck. As you can see, I tend to start with brighter colors. I do it this way because it is really easy to muddy a watercolor and once it happens, there's not too much you can do to brighten it back up. So starting with the bright colors will allow me to go back later and soften once I've had time to really look at it.
Here I have started to layer in her dress.. I have to admit.. I'm not too excited about painting the floral design on this dress.. Wish me luck! :)
Here, you will notice that I have done a few things to the background. I really love a neat textured background but still blurred as you would see in a nice photograph.. So I simply swirl my wet paint brush in a small circular motion to form these glowing blurred dots. I then can add a brighter yellow, or green to make that background pop again! Kind of a fun technique :)
I will post some more tips and techniques later today as work on her.
Your comments and questions are ALWAYS welcome!
Thank you!
