“Bridie - Portrait”
(Watercolour)
Size: 30x22 cm
THE IDEA BEHIND THE PAINTING:
This is one of the portraits that I did
of my family. Watercolour paint is the
medium decided for my granddaughter Bridie because I felt that it best suited her
personality. I painted it from this
photograph (below) in a very representational way. I did this because although many of my
paintings are abstract, with family portraiture I am capturing a record of a
person in time.
Art Techniques used to achieve this:
I drew the
painting first having gridded up the photo. The drawing is seen below:-
Because the
photo was taken outdoors, I used what is known as a “Cool Light Sequence” - this
keeps the background cool and the face and figure warm. (I have discussed the difference between warm
and cool colours before).
The palette used
for this painting is as follows:-
Watercolour Palette:
Aureo. Yellow
Rose Madder
French Ultra
Blue
Cad. Red
Windsor Blue (or Phthalo Blue)
Indian Red
Aliz. Crimson
Veridian
Cobalt Blue
Light Red
Windsor Green
(or Phthalo G.)
I did the
background first. I used 300g
watercolour paper. I saturated the paper
with water to paint the background – leaving the paper under the face and hair
dry. I then applied the glazes and
allowed the paper to dry between each glaze.
That way I was able to increase the intensity of the colour where needed
– ie close to the face.
Painting
using watercolour paints requires more experience than acrylics. It is a very exacting medium.
I have
written about using watercolour paint for portraits in posts #10 and 64. I also discussed portrait painting in post #54
where I reviewed other family portraits.
Feel free to back track on this blog to read the referenced posts.
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