Artist Barbara Rosenzweig's Blog: Art, Gardening, Photography, and Ramblings: child portrait

Showing posts with label child portrait. Show all posts

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Watercolor Child Portrait Process in Progress

Oops! I got so absorbed in painting today, that I forgot to take a photo during much of the process!

To see the earliest stages of this painting

http://barbararosenzweig.blogspot.com/2013/08/new-adventure-watercolor-painting.html, http://barbararosenzweig.blogspot.com/2013/08/child-watercolor-painting-process-boy.html,

http://barbararosenzweig.blogspot.com/2013/08/child-portrait-watercolor-painting.html

Today, I worked on layering more color on the stone to give it depth, darkened the inside of the fountain, and started the scrollwork under it. In creating the copper on the rim of the fountain, I started with a pale coppery color and will build it up later.

When I paint, I try not to go into an area that is still wet, since it can make what's called "blossoms." Sometimes you want this type of unpredictable pattern, but for most of my painting here, I want to control the flow of the paint. So while the paint is drying in one area, I'll work on another.

Now for the hair. The initial yellow was just to give me a sense of where the hair was and approximate color. What I did now was to lighten the yellow by using a moistened brush and lifting and blotting the color until it was a very pale yellow. Next, I mixed light shades of brown to start giving some texture to the hair. It is not done yet, but I will leave it for now.

Next, the arms. Using rose, yellow and a bit of blue, I laid in the colors at the sides of the arms to start giving a roundness to them. Not done yet.

Looking at the tiles, I saw that they still needed toning down so that they will not be the focal point of the painting and pull the eye away from the boy. I used a combination of colors to create a black wash that I put over the tiles, as well as darken the metal grate under the boy's feet.

To create the folds on the boy's jeans, I focused on created the shapes of dark and light colors. That's enough for one day!

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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Child Portrait Watercolor Painting Process and Techniques - Continued

Now we're well into the UGLY stage!
I keep my reference photo handy to check to see if the shapes and placements are accurate.

I started to put the scrollwork under the fountain and tone down the bright tiles with a wash of gray.

Continuing more of the stonework, I shape up the bowl of the fountain, put the right step in, and add more greens to the stone. For this, I use the technique called "scumbling." After I fill my brush with paint, I wick off excess water on a paper towel, and then hold the brush on its side as I drag it across the paper. I let the 300 lb. thick rag Arches watercolor paper do the rest. You can see the results on the stone steps.

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Child Watercolor Painting Process "Boy Reaching" - Continued

CAUTION !!!
You are about to see a painting in its adolescent stage! Beware! You will be seeing the good, the bad, and the ugly! View at your own risk! Hope that you enjoy seeing this daunting process.

Once I decided on the portion of the photo that would be most effective for this painting, I lightly sketched in the important details. Now I take the plunge and put paintbrush to paper.

I started by lightly painting in the background and the boy to get a sense of the colors I would be using. Next, I started on the tile floor. Here, I used richer colors that will eventually be toned down.

Still in the preliminary process, I start to refine the hair, shirt, pants, and sneakers, as well as lay in some turquoise for the beginning of the copper patina on the drinking fountain.

Here's where it starts getting UGLY! I'm laying in colors for the stone wall with its green algae.

As you might have guessed by now, I am very slow and deliberate in my painting process. It takes me a long time to complete a watercolor to my satisfaction. At this point, I am nowhere near being done. Once all of the colors are "in," the refining begins. There must be "dark darks" and very "light lights" to make the painting have depth. Once these "values" are established, I can attend to the most difficult and time-consuming part, adding all of the minute details.

Can't wait to hear from you!

Monday, August 12, 2013

Child Boy Girl Portrait Painting - New Adventure Watercolor Series

"Boy into the Surf"

"Girl into the Surf"

Be part of my NEW ADVENTURE SERIES!

I invite you to send in photos of your child starting out on a Great Adventure! I will create 10 original 8x10 watercolor paintings of the first 10 "favorite photos" I receive with this theme. You will get to follow the progress of the paintings on this blog. My commission rate for that size is usually $225, but for my Blog Buddies, it will be $190 + shipping. No one is obligated to purchase. If you’d like to send in pictures,, post a Comment, so that I can let you know where to send the snapshots. These photos should show your child looking away from the camera and into the new place they’ve found to play in and explore. Above and below are the first New Adventure paintings in my series.

I look forward to seeing all of your imaginative photos!