Conquering My Fears

Here’s my theory: the more people paintings I tackle, the more comfortable I will become with them. So I’ve started on a quest, creating small watercolor paintings of people who I have photographed in casual settings. “When He Was Six” is the first in this series, with the title harkening back to a popular painting of a little girl I painted in acrylics on canvas several years ago, titled “When She Was 3.”

I’ve done other people paintings over the years (not without a struggle) and called them ‘character’ paintings since they depicted people involved in activities rather than simply being focused on their faces. I’ve purposely been avoiding the word ‘portrait,’ since that seemed like such an artistic specialty that was far from my comfort zone. I think it’s time to change my wording along with my thinking, since a ‘portrait’ painting is defined as one depicting the face or head and shoulders. That’s what I am aiming to do!

I’d love to learn portrait painting from one of many watercolor portrait artists whose work takes my breath away. Unfortunately, the few such workshop opportunities I’ve explored were either cancelled or too far away. Alternately, I’ve been studying the how-to’s of watercolor portraits through books and online videos – great sources of learning. I’m most attracted to those done in a colorful way, which is how I’ve been using watercolors most recently. I am also drawn to those which use a loose, painterly, nondescript background –  not my usual approach so add that to the learning curve. I like casual poses where the face is the main focus, with clothing and other elements lacking detail… another new twist for me!

I decided to do this 10″ x 7″ painting of my great nephew Liam on 300lb cold press Arches watercolor paper. The heavy weight of the paper reduces buckling when wet and the surface texture holds the paint well. My reference was one of several photos I took during Liam’s visit last March from Minnesota. (Liam’s sister Olivia was a model for one of my recent scratchboards.) I had Liam glance my way as we sat at the picnic table playing dominoes on our wooded hilltop which we call Rocky Top. In his pose, I was drawn to the slight smile, backwards cap, and spontaneous look. Professional portrait photographs are often staged with multiple light sources to minimize facial shadows. In my photo, the lighting from the left appealed to me; when one side of the face is in bright light and shadows are cast on the other side it makes a more interesting view than the flat look when lit directly front-on. Lighting adds an important component to a painting, and I like shadows and highlights.

In my people series I will infuse similar design principles as I use in my other paintings. To create the focal point (in a portrait, generally the eyes), I use the strongest contrast of dark and light to lead the viewer’s eye there. I always strive to develop an interesting composition, as with Liam’s face off-center but balanced by the empty space on the right. I eliminate unnecessary or distracting elements from my reference photo. Here, I decided not to have “Vols” lettering on his hat band, since words in a painting tend to draw attention first. Sorry Tennessee sports fans – I do root for our University of Tennessee teams (alma mater of Liam’s parents), just not in this painting. Also, here I blended my colors softly and used curves rather than sharp straight lines, reflecting the relaxed and content mood of my subject.

I used the same palette of 3 warm primaries watercolors and 3 cool primaries in this painting as I used for “Sorghum Maker.” My observation of other artists’ portraits is that the background has light hues where it surrounds the dark side of the face and darker hues on the highlighted side, so I laid in those values right at the start. I sort of tip-toed around the facial features, tackling them last. When I got to the point where I felt I had a good likeness as well as a balanced composition, I stopped painting. I moved my artboard to where I could glance at it for a day or two, away from my painting area. This helps me to be more objective, so I might notice my eye being drawn to a certain spot that I need to tone down. Based on those observations, I did a few minor tweaks to the painting – I’m always nervous at that stage that I might do more harm than good.

I know from my dog portraits that I can do a successful painting of just about any dog, but painting someone’s specific pet it is more challenging. No two golden retrievers look the same side-by-side – especially to the owner. Variations, some very subtle, are what makes one face distinctive from another. Few human faces are perfectly symmetrical, for example. It might be the slight unevenness of the eyes or the negligible crooked smile or the little bend in the nose which need to be depicted for a successful “likeness.” If I do a portrait of a stranger, I feel I can create a successful painting. But painting someone I know, especially if they will see my painting, adds the pressure of capturing that person’s uniqueness. Stay tuned – my quest will continue!