WWM - Day 29

Finally...The finished piece.

 

ARTURO GATTI V MICKY WARD

 

#worldwatercolormonth

Winners of the dot card giveaway will be pleased to hear I posted their prize Thursday afternoon.

 

WWM - Day 27

 

Getting there...Trying to keep it loose!

WWM - Day 26

 

Still in progress!

..been a little distracted with the birth of my Grandson.

x

WWM - Day 25

A little progress on the second person in my double portrait


Winners of yesterdays giveaway are -
nknana3
Eunice
La Table De Nana
Please email me your full name and address to Nitsa2000 at hotmail dot com

WWM - Day 23

 

 

 

An update and a reveal one of my subjects

MICKY WARD

The photo was taken after a fight, so I had the dodgy eye and various bruises to deal with...

...I'm still working on his hair.

#worldwatercolormonth

WWM - Day 22

 

Well 21 portraits in 21 days is crazy!!!...but I'm crazy enough that I did it!

PHEW!

 

For the next few days I'll be slowing down a little and working on a much larger piece.

 

This time I'm using a Fabriano Artistico traditional white 140lb hot pressed 14x20 inch block rather than my watercolour Moleskine Folio.

This piece is too big for my scanner so I'll be taking pics with my phone camera.

 

It's a double portrait and has taken a while to sketch out and transfer so I have only just started to apply paint to one of the faces.

 

Both subjects are quite unique, a first time painting for me in this 'area' of portraiture.

Let's hope I can pull it off!

 



#worldwatercolormonth

At The Races 4

 

Lots more...Not far to the finish now!

At The Races 3

 

Bit More!

At The Races 2

Starting to add a little colour

At The Races

40x40cms - Oil

 

I decided to tackle some horses as my next oil challenge.

 

I've never painted horses before.

I did paint a horse head/portrait a very long time ago in watercolour but apart from that I've never so much as sketched one, so it seemed like something I should tackle....embrace the enemy as it were!

 

I went straight in with the brush!

No sketch, just oil, a little turps and lots of courage.

 

I'm rather pleased with myself....now let's watch me bugger it up as I add colour and tone! LOL!

 

In The Studio

 

It's been such a long time since I worked in my studio on anything!

Most of my sketches are either on location or sketched from the comfort of my sofa late at night.

 

When a commission comes up that requires studio space, it's such a pleasure to know that you got it right, that it works, that everything you need has it's place and comes easily to hand, that it's comfortable and that even on a miserable day in January in England...You have light!

 

Let's hope the painting echo's this harmony!

 

 

Chocolate Lab - Finished

Acrylic on canvas © Anita Davies

As promised, here is the chocolate lab complete.

Chocolate Lab

Another peek at the chocolate lab commission in progress that I painted before Christmas. I will upload the finished piece as soon as I have downloaded the photos from my camera.

Chocolate Lab

Another peek at the commission I'm currently working on.
You can view more here.

Chocolate Lab

Finally collected my camera and can now share a sneak peek of the commission I've been working on.
Matching the colours in this guys fur has been a challenge, believe it or not there is purple and two blues used in the mixes here! The graduations between each tone are very subtle.
It's moving along nicely though, since I did some Christmas shopping and put panic into it's place, I am now able to concentrate on the job in hand.

15 Minute Fen

This sketch was completed in 15 minutes, plein air, smack bang outside of my studio during two crafty cigarette breaks while completing a painting commission. It's not perfect, it's not particularly brilliant either but it did remind me that you CAN capture the essence of a place in a very short time, so there is never an excuse not to!
The Fens are constantly changing, I am grateful for that, the field infront of my studio has recently been ploughed over, changing the soft golden tones into deeply textured earthy browns.

The Old Palace, Ely

You may remember my plein air painting above from my recent trip to The Old Palace in Ely (You can read about my day and creative battle here)
Before leaving the palace, the rebel in me had one last attack of bravery and applied textured foliage to the piece with a knife.

This is how I brought the piece home:



On returning home I could see everything was a little 'wonky' probably due to my easel being too small for my canvas and me having to use it backwards which gave everything an unfortunate slant.
This morning I had half an hour or so free before my class arrived, so I set about straightening it all up and then, with no reference, allowed my creativity to dance.

Here is the result as it stands at this time:




...and a close up...




I'm feeling happier about it, I had alot of fun this morning and got so lost in the piece I didn't hear my class pull into the yard.

The Old Palace, Ely

WIP-The Old Palace, Ely

On Wednesday my good friend Joan travelled from Coltishall, to spend a few days painting with me. The first location on our agenda was The Old Palace in Ely. The palace is currently home to Sue Ryder Care and on Thursday they were holding a fundraising event entitled 'Paint the Palace'

It was a beautiful location to paint and both Joan and I were pleased we had decided to take our acrylics along for the day.

I was a little adventurous with the palette choice on my interpretation of the palace door and my piece is unfinished but I found it fun and relaxing to work out of my comfort zone...Until I went to change my water...After that the two side of my brain (yes, I have one!) battled with each other and I found it difficult to move forward which offered another interesting insight to an already enjoyable day!

I have taken photographic references but have since decided I will finish this piece without them, hopefully this will allow the energy and creativity I started the piece with to return without having to battle with the realist side of my brain.

Portrait Demo Stage 3

©Anita Davies

Stage 3 - Adding Warmth

I always really enjoy stage 3, all of the hard work is done, my values are in and the face is looking 3-dimensional, right now I could pour any translucent colour over the paper and it would still be Ellie.

I use a couple of warm shades from my tricolour palette and break the warmth's down into cold and warmer:

Opera Rose (neat), for the pinker, cooler areas
Opera Rose mixed with yellow ochre for the deep peachy, sunny spots

Because these hues are placed over the top of an existing underpainting, they will produce new hues of their own in places, so no intricate mixes are required...we simply need to breathe life into Ellie's features.

Ellie's chin, cheeks and nose are the closest features in the painting and are also areas that generate heat, so these areas require a lashing of that sunny peach mix. Because the photo is backlit, Ellie's ears also require lots of warmth as does the crease in her neck just below the ear.

As her features tilt back away from the viewer the top section of the head, while still requiring heat, requires the cooler pink hue. When the pink is placed over the areas where I used the warmer shadow mix of Cerulean & Rose, the violet becomes stronger and more interesting.

As in stage two where remembering to add the darks is vital, in stage 3 remembering to leave the brightest of highlights is essential, they allow your darks to appear stronger and your form to appear more believeable, defining the direction of the light source clearly.

*Notes

The entire painting stage took me approx 35 minutes, when I approach a commission I spend much more time on all aspects of the piece, including the sketch. Strange how we see a freedom in our journals that we fail to take over into our paintings.
I am happy with the looseness in this piece, I don' feel I lost anything in approaching Ellie's portrait this way and hope to remember this for future works.

I found this bright, candy coloured tricolour palette suits young children nicely. It is young and cheerful with it's soft dark mixes and it's elements of gentle warmth throughout.

Finally...A few more children watercolour portraits. I have selected 'Izzy' because of the focus on her eyes....In my opinion, the absolute key to any successful portrait, they unlock the soul: character, emotion, expression...they all live here in the eyes. Get them right and you are halfway there!


'Bethany' - painted 2004


'Kayeigh' - painted 2004


'Izzy' - painted 2005

Portrait Demo Stage 2

Click picture for large image

STAGE 2 - Cool and Dark

When I work a portrait I always work cool - warm, working on the darkest shadows through to the lighter, warmer areas.

I first place the coolest shadows in and then the warmer shadows.

For this portrait I decided on the following tricolour palette. Normally I would just go straight in with this selection, I don't sample them first on scrap, make colour charts and mixing charts...I just paint and MAKE it work.
My theory is that the colour doesn't really matter, only the temperature of the colour interests me and the values in the painting. If I painted a perfectly formed apple in a palette of purple and pink, it would still be an apple, the fact that it isn't green or red doesn't hinder the finished piece!
However, for this demo I have made a loose chart for you to enable you to see my selection clearly:

As you can see at the bottom , the 3 paints make a nice warm violet ideal for warmer shadows and a nice green/blue for the darker, cooler shadows.

I am using a Pentel Water Brush for this portrait, they come in 3 sizes...I think mine is the medium tip. I use it for all my journaling and travel sketching.


Applying the shadows in a baby or children's portrait is where it can all go wrong. Too crisp a line adds age to a portrait as wrinkles do to a person, gentle blending and graduation is the key!

This doesn't mean you should ignore the darks you see, they are necessary for form and will enable your portrait to have dimension. Build them up gently, running a wet, clean brush over the edge of the shadow will allow the graduation to be smooth and therefore, ageless.
Warmer shadows will usually exist around the creases in the nose, inside of the mouth...anywhere that usually generates some kind of heat. They will appear redder in hue.
Remember, the whites of the eyes are NOT white throughout, they are spheres and therefore will have shadows and form like any other part of Ellie's cute little face!

I have uploaded a very large image so you can see my approach in detail.

STAGE 1