Gift for Freddie

The painting that I posted on July 9 of Chandler became a gift for my son for his 43rd birthday, which is today.  43!!!  How did that happen?  Aren't I only 43 or so?

I have found time to paint this past week and will be posting some of that maybe tomorrow.  I worked on the portrait of Ted a bit more and made alot of progress on a painting of our grandson, Lucah.  These grandchildren that you see paintings of are now 14, 13 and 11 (Chandler, Gavin and Lucah respectively). I just love some of these little snapshots of when they were younger.

I'm also planning to do a painting of my husband Jim, that includes our first yorkie, Zoe.  Before I tackle the painting, I have been doing small practice paintings of Zoe but not with much luck.  I am having trouble doing a dog.  I can do them in pencil but watercolor is another story.  Geez!!!

Chandler, another WIP

Another from a cute little snapshot when Chandler was maybe 18 months old.  Watering flowers with a spray bottle.  My usual paper for my portrait work is Arches 300 pound hot pressed and I've grown really fond on that paper.  This is on Arches 300 pound cold pressed and it is really different!  Need lots more water in my brush or it behaves like a dry brush.  I'm also not accustomed to doing flowers or foliage in the background so this is quite an experiment for me.  I'll post more stages as I go along.  I have to keep telling myself that I am learning and there will be bummers along the way.  I'm pretty much Type A when it comes to wanting things correct from the beginning.  Wrong attitude for a water colorist, huh?

I think this may be finished

I have added a loose background to this.  I started with just a light wash of cerulean blue.  Considered leaving it at that but it appeared unfinished to me.  So I added touches of cobalt, mineral violet and cad orange.  I think the cad orange picks up the color of her hair and pulls the background together with the figure.  What do you think?

I intend to work on some new things this week and REALLY try to add more colors and a looser look.  Wish me luck on that! 

The temps here remain in the triple digits with no relief in sight.  Come on Fall!!!

Chandler, WIP

I just love the  expression on Chandler's face here.  It is a snapshot taken when she was about 18 months old, or so.  I worked on it this week and think I have the figure about where I want it.  Now the dilemma is the background!  It seems that I am often unhappy with the background and therefore, ruin some of my paintings.  Poo!!!! A perfect example is the painting in an earlier post titled "Farmer Gavin".  I was pretty happy with the figure and then could not get a background that I liked.  Hence, I will probably not post the finished version of that and will try again from that same photo of her. 

We are attending a family and friends reunion party today.  I hope you all have a marvelous Fourth!  Stay cool and enjoy!  Thanks for reading!