Watercolor Portraits

Painting anything with a face is my first love.  I've been busy painting pets for people and have missed painting people so I've decided to remedy that.  Here are a few of my recent "people paintings."

Watercolor on Panels

I'm enjoying the challenge of painting watercolor on cradled panels so they don't have too be framed or put under glass.  I'm still experimenting with various supports.  Some take the watercolor easier than others but all can be varnished afterwards with many layers of varnish to protect the artwork.  This is my latest painting.

"Wilson"

24x18 watercolor on cradled panel

Rusty

My husband has been telling me that I'm going to the dogs because I paint so many dog portraits.  I thought it about time I paint another cat.  

Painting Faces

Have I mentioned how much I love painting faces.  I can sit for hours and just paint faces.  All kinds of faces.  People - animals - flowers!!!  I love trying to capture their personalities and believe we hold many of our stories in our faces.

Watercolor

Watercolor background and acrylic dog

Watercolor

Making Animal Portraits Pop!

As you scroll down to some previous posts, you will see some pet portraits with simple backgrounds or no background.  Lately I have been experimenting with putting in colorful backgrounds which allow paintings to pop! What do you think?  I'm using the wide double mat to show how you can display a smaller painting (9x12) and have it fit into a 16x20 frame.

Youthful Skin

In February I'll be teaching my class how to paint youthful skin vs the skin of the old man that they painted in my January classes.  I thought it best to get in a little practice although finding young skin is a challenge seeing as I live in a 55+ community.  A friend gave me permission to paint her grandson and granddaughter.  

Black or White Fur

Painting an all white or all black animal is often a challenge especially when painting with watercolor as we don't often use white or black paint.  This past week I was commission to do both.