Watercolour demo – Tom Hardy

Last week I tried to show how exacting measurement in prep drawing for a watercolour portrait can work in your favour by giving reassurance of the drawing and confidence before applying paint.

I knew this painstaking method would be challenging and rather laborious for the group so this week I offered a shortcut alternative and took a tracing and transferred the drawing that way.

I was asked if I could paint someone everyone knew, to give added interest. I chose Tom Hardy and no-one knew him!

It’s not great to paint from someone else’s photograph for portraits but hey, it’s only an exercise.

I tried the one on the right at home to rehearse the points and to make sure I kinda knew what I was talking about when I came to do it in class.

The photo is a good example of high tonal contrast and three quarter pose.

The one on the left was the demo. These are half hour paintings, with a one inch flat brush.

Watercolour girl (more)

More paint on; tonal additions and adjustments, eyes, some hair, eyebrows, lips, nostrils.

Everywhere got a little paint to finish.

Watercolour on paper 28″x15″

Watercolour girl

A demo for Thursday group highlighting precision measurements when transferring drawing to paper.

I am not averse to a bit of tracing when drawing on to canvas or paper but this time I got the ruler out and showed the scaling up from measurements taken from the photograph.

The composition is cinematic widescreen. I like the way the girl is peering out through the letterbox like window. This was two hours painting and I will give it some more time in the studio to finish some raw areas. Eyes, some hair bits, tonal adjustments here and there.

 

Camellia – final version

I wasn’t that enamoured with the painting this afternoon. There was a lack of life in the thing. I took a palette knife to it and destroyed the bottom section and repainted the background. I took it as close as I dared to total destruction and then I started to like it. So the message seems to be to throw caution oot the windae!

Evening Light April 2017

Jumping to and fro between things can be fun but you lose focus if you are trying to develop an idea. I have been getting progressively bolder, I think, with these estuary paintings. Sticking to the one subject throughout gives a solid foundation to explore paint marks and texture. This is verging on “empty” but I have tried to dramatise what was quite a calm evening.

Yellow Chair

Back to basics.  Drawn on Samsung Galaxy note 8

Boy

Here is a painting I have been able to revisit lately. I am about to paint this boy’s brothers and sister after a break of some years. This guy is now about 15 years old!