Sweet Beverly

"Sweet Beverly"

Image size 15" x 12"

Watercolor

I've painted 3 different views of my friend Beverly wearing this fun red hat.  I haven't been totally happy with any of them, so you'll probably see another one sometime in the future.  I'm determined to get a really special painting out of these reference photos.

I want to paint more portraits so that I feel more comfortable with them.  I should probably pick a more forgiving medium so that I don't tighten up worrying about making a mistake that might not be fixable.

Sun Shade

Sun Shade

Image size 22" x 15"

Watercolor

Last week's painting was painted on a paper parasol from my niece's wedding.  This week's painting is of another niece at that same wedding using one of the parasols.  I guess it would have made more sense chronologically to post this one with the unpainted parasol and then the painted parasol but I didn't think about that until right now.

I haven't painted a portrait for almost two decades and even back then, I think I only painted three or four and they weren't very good. Painting a portrait is very stressful for me and I'm not really very happy with this one.  First, it looks nothing like my niece (she's so much prettier) and it's also very tight.  I was able to start to relax as I painted it by telling myself "it's only a piece of paper" over and over and in the end, I was enjoying the process.  I am looking forward to trying another portrait soon.