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MEDIUM: Watercolor on Paper
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SIZE: 10" x 7"
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STATUS: In a Private Collection
"I loved the casual pose in a photo I took of my great nephew Liam and chose it as my first attempt at a portrait of a child in watercolor. I've done paintings of children over the years - including "In Her Own World" of an anonymous girl I saw on the beach many years ago, followed by "Molly By The Sea" of my niece as a child in the 1990s, and "When She Was Three" in acrylics on canvas. Each of these showed the child facing away from the viewer, involved in an activity. Now I was ready for a head and shoulders pose, focused on the face itself, with no discernible background. In this attempt, I gave myself the added task of painting someone I know (not recommended for a new portrait artist), adding pressure to capture a likeness. I like a challenge!
I used a split primary palette of six watercolors for this painting, meaning a red, blue, and yellow with warm tones and a red, blue, and yellow with cool tones. As I had in previous paintings, I used the cools in highlighted areas and warms in shadows. Purposely my skin colors are not photo-realistic, but rather more boldly colorful than reality.
When I emailed the finished painting image to Liam's mom, my niece Julie, she called it "amazing" and said Liam perked right up when he saw his own face on a day when he was feeling a little sad. I am so blessed to be able to do something I love so much and have my paintings make others happy!"
