Your Painted Face (part 1)

Tessa! As I do more water colour, I'm picking up up more on the wet on wet technique and layering of tones I love. For this image I drew in some of the line work in a way that would compliment the washes and give the image an underlying structure. I left spaces of white and lighter tones, thinking ahead a step or two to what I wanted it to look like. At the same time, the WC has a mind of it's own so I'm trying to preserve that looseness and airiness which is characteristic of this medium. I've omitted red and added instead, green and blue washes to the background. Tessa's gone now, but her memory lives on and I was pretty happy with how this turned out.

Tessa! 

(below) Another Water Colour study. I had too much going on here, too much paint and too heavy handed. 

So I decided if that's how it's going to be I might as well put more on, do more and try to give it life in that direction.

 In the end I was happy enough with it.

I had to come back over with white WC paint which I hate doing, but I'd already blotted out most of any of the white paper I'd been trying to leave with the blue. 

I stayed with the theme of red. It's not easily seen in this reproduction, but the girl's lips are red. A small point of interest as well as part of the era (watercolour on WC paper - 130gsm).

'early one morning when the sun was shining' 

(below) This series of water colour studies was done with red  as my starting point. My imagination took over from there!  I was also inspired by my daughters 'four girls' drawings. (Water Colour on WC paper 175 gsm)

 Fiona (no 4)

in  red (no3)

close up

 red coat  (no2)

 study (no1)

child's face in shadows (no 5)

Your Painted Face (part 2) - Four Girls and More!

                            

      1. girl in a green skirt                                                                      2. girl in a pink dress

3. girl in a blue shirt                       4. girl in a yellow skirt                                                                                  

more drawings by my daughter: you may be out for a meal and only have the back of a napkin,you may only have the backof a folder containing the kid's work from the class you teach inside, it might only be a scrap of paper, a stick in the sand - keep being creative.

These works below are by my daughter, most of which were for her final year exhibition Major in 2008.

they are charcoal/ watercolour/ ink portraits about family.

1

2

3

4

5

(this one was sold at exhibition)

6

7

8

9

10

I've included these drawings by my daughter because of her simple approach to subject and materials. I like the lightness she achieves with soft edges and tones. I particularly like the blurring between the mediums of painting and drawing. There is enough detail to capture the mood of the subject and allow the viewer to feel and imagine as they are drawn into the work. The simplicity of the final works defies the many layers of medium that are applied and reworked to create the desired effect.