Watercolor Figures

5 min

Why watercolor?  I love working the figure from life.  It keeps us fresh, observant and forced to make decisions quickly and with authority.  I learn a lot from doing this.  I am used to doing oil and pastel figures but with watercolor, I experience a greater challenge.  Watercolors are "dangerous"...one often feels they have a life of their own.  I am learning to be free with accuracy, let the water define my shadow shapes which in turn, define the form.

10 min

 20 min

5 min

25 min

Taking a Break

On a snowy day in April I decided on this little 6 x 6 oil on board as my morning demo

Marketplace and Charleston pastels

Marketplace

Still practicing..honing my familiarity with pastels for the Plein Air in Tucson.

Charleston

Portuguese Street

Well, the Plein Air Convention is just two weeks away and as I will be a pastel demonstrator, I thought I better start getting back to some pastels.  Not sure what I will demo yet, but don't want to go in cold!  So, this is "Portuguese Street" and it's a 9 x 12 done on Colorfix Paper with Terry Ludwig and Unison pastels.  I will be demonstrating at 11 am on the Pastel Stage on Saturday, April 16.

Masai

This morning's oil demo.  I chose to paint a more detailed figure for my class...I wanted to talk about structure of the head and turning form with color.

At Camp

I usually use my own reference material or paint on site, but a friend had some photos that I loved and she allowed me to use them.  This is "At Camp" and it's a 9 x 12 oil on canvas

watercolor figures

5 min

 Although I love doing the figure from life in oil and of course, pastels, I get bored and stale. I am playing with watercolors to challenge myself, to learn something new and hopefully to improve my oils and pastels as well.  These are from my life drawing group

10 min

5 min

20 min