Mexican Plate

Better image posted below.

Last one, for now

More watercolor, overworked the hand dreadfully and still never got the drawing right. Tomorrow I start a new image; this girl is starting to sneer at me. I will probably come back to her; the experiments were useful but I didn't quite capture expression/emotion/drawing as I'd like to.

Here she is again, first two days

For once I took photos in progress--because I keep losing the good in early stages as well as covering the bad. I began with very loose, pale washes to give me an idea where the figure was, then established it with soft pencil and wet those marks to get sort of a shadow wash. The next morning I went in with more color. This sheet of paper was prepared with absorbent ground, which (contradictorily) made it less absorbent, made the color very easy to lift, but really grabbed the graphite. Another lesson.

Detail

WC/Acrylic on paper, 22" x 30"

This is the third (current) experiment on paper, the same French lady (probably from a postcard c. 1855). There was a watercolor beginning that got away from me so I covered almost all of it with thin acrylic. I also went in with soft graphite, to add some drawing marks, a technique I'll use earlier in the next one while the paper has some tooth. Whenever I feel too uncomfortable I slide back into familiar ways of painting--at least this time I used bigger brushes. More of Golden's fluid acrylics are on the way--after experimenting a bit with assorted hand-me-down paint, I decided the "fluid"s will work best on paper for me, liquid enough to easily thin to wc consistency with water or airbrush medium, but with enough body to remain opaque without hiding the texture of the paper. Which was 300 lb Fabriano, btw.

There's some glare in the upper left: shiny medium, which I need to avoid or learn to minimize.

Watercolor

In a continuing quest to improve my skills and make my brain more flexible, I'm trying some water media. Watercolor and acrylic on paper, 22"x 30", more or less.

Finally. Good Photos.

One might imagine these are the only two paintings I've ever made.