It's always nice when a student asks to try something new, or confessed a secret desire for a subject that they have not yet tried. So I was pleased when my student Paul asked if we could do a portrait using water colour. But rather than a full portrait, I decided we should breakout down to a manageable starting point, and concentrated on drawing (first) the lower part of the face. In other words, we left out the eyes...
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| The first stage of my demo, showing the drawing develop. |
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| Left - a simple wash all over, Right a bit more colour on the lips |
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| finished demo. The point of the exercise was to demystify painting the face. Putting a drawing down first really helps. Below you can see some student artworks, from Ann-Marie, Nichola, Linda and Alison. Delicious! |
NOT putting the eyes in made the subject feel much less daunting. Once the eyes are included, you really feel an obligation to the person being studied.
However, Liz McM took the plunge, with great success...
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| Liz McM, who laves drawing faces but has a slight allergy to watercolour. A lovely study! |
or see website
www.juliedouglas.co.uk
