Eating Crow Watercolor portrait st

As usual, you guys are pretty kind to me.    As I went on my small watercolor tirade the other day, no one told me that I really didn't know what the heck I was doing, that might have been the problem!!!  Thanks so much for not ripping me down.

I have to tell you that I am so glad I am taking this class.   We are on week 7 and I have, in my mind, paid for the course.  I have already learned a lot of things, and now I realize, with watercolor, you got to know something.   Seems that so much comes down to what kind of paper, how you hold/use the brush, the colors used, what order color is applied, etc, etc.  It truly is its own parallel universe to any other kind of media.   I have also learned that you have to approach watercolor in a totally different manner than you do either oil or acrylics - and let alone disregard anything you knew from colored pencils and pastels.

So here is my first watercolor lesson.   Yes, the thing about watercolor is that it still takes a heck of a long time.   But I am learning a bit better how to use the brushes so that you can apply color and blend at the same time.  I did, or course have to do something the teacher didn't and that was use acrylic metallic gold in the neck area, eyes and flower.   Then had to find a bit of glitter to add to the flowers and eyes just to pep it up a bit.  

Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.

Comments

Helen said…
She's very beautiful. You are a brave artist. Watercolor seems so unforgiving and scary! I don't even want to give it a try!
February 27, 2019 at 4:15 PM
carol edan said…
Love her eyes! Beautiful work!
February 28, 2019 at 4:47 AM
Mellowood Gallery said…
You have done some great blending here Nelvia! Super skin tones and shading make her face perfect. I like the mixes of colour in the hat too. Great job!
February 28, 2019 at 10:59 AM
Sheila said…
Learn the rules, so you can break them. I read that somewhere. Honestly Nelvia, I don't think about the rules that much while I paint. Maybe that is MY problem, LOL. Learn what can be done, and then decide how you would like to do it. I think the same is true of any media. Each has it's own difficulties and eases. Is that a word? Probably using that wrong too, LOL.
She is lovely, and I was going to ask about the gold. What type of paint it is. You know our friend Dotty sometimes uses puffy fabric paint on her pieces. Always fab! And I don't think your instructor would have any problems with your additions. Lovely work Friend!!
February 28, 2019 at 7:10 PM
Joan Tavolott said…
There is something riveting about this one. Well done! Yes, watercolor is very different from other media since you work from light to dark. It is a challenge. I like your addition of the metallic gold and glitter. There is an iridescent medium you can use with watercolors. I have some somewhere but heaven knows where. lol
February 28, 2019 at 8:12 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bold woman's portrait

Image
Bold Ok, for today's portrait I went out of the box and decided to try a different look and approach. This is on watercolor paper, I applied a layer of paper collate over it (you can see that some of it started lifting - so got to use more medium to glue it next time)  Anyway then I tried to leave part of that under collage showing, even in the face.  Went back in and applied several more light lawyers of transparent and opaque paint and then put in the hair using my dagger bus.   Gosh that brush makes hair so much easier While this might not the best example what are your thoughts to taking portraits this more dynamic direction? Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.
Read more

Her Highness mixed media woman portrait

Image
Her Highness   I just absolutely loved the expression on this lady and knew I wanted to try to capture her elegance and serenity.  I knew that I didn't want an exact portrait and decided to try another mixed media piece.    I added blobs of paint and used my large scraper to make the areas of color.  Just put paint on a piece of watercolor paper.  Then I inscribed and mixed the colors together with the end of my brush and got all the wavy lines (in real life they actually stand up so there is a 3D effect to the background).  Where I thought I wanted the face I really scraped most of the paint off, and ended up with color blotches and tones, and if you look in the forehead you can sort of see the design that was left.  I thought it would add some variance to the skin tones. I also want to keep her very soft so I tried to stay in the pastel tones, even with the lips.   Once I got shadows and lights added in, and went over it with some skin tone and more blue colors I let
Read more

In The Garden acrylic painting Redo

Image
In The Garden Original painting Well, thankfully I have some folks who tell me what they think.  I value their objective opinions very much and appreciate that they feel strongly enough to tell me when they feel something is off.  In the original painting no one liked the addition of the yellow flower, and felt it pulled the eye and overshadowed the focal point.   Well, I sat on it a bit and starting playing with how I could work it back into the composition.  I wanted the third flower, but I couldn't just really dull down the yellow.  As you an see I ended up making it darker in shadows and then burying it into the foliage.  I like it better because it now looks, to me, like it is part of the picture instead of just being put on in the corner.  Moral of the story, fix it first because it is hard to come in and match colors later. What do you think of the changes - for better or worse? Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look.
Read more