Hey! - Cool it with capturing a perfect portrait likeness.

We all want our portraits to look JUST LIKE OUR SUBJECT, right? For me, this idea of capturing a perfect likeness starts with a really hard-won accurate drawing. It's great to meet that goal, but be aware of "perfection". What could be equally satisfying? Maybe it can come by NOT worry too much about capturing a "perfect likeness", NOT to erase a lot of "mistakes" during the drawing process, and just letting go with some of your idiosyncratic line work. What the hey, did the great El Greco worry about his propensity of elongating figures? Do artists like Lucian Freud worry over overly accurate line work. He digs deeper and captures spirit. In fact, you know what? This painting needs to get more "inaccurate!" I'll have to do this again . . . and maybe again! 

Mixed medium portrait

A little watercolor, a little colored conte crayon, and a little color expression. I worked from a black and white photo reference print, so that I was not influenced by the color if I had used a color reference photo. This was one of my drawing students at Sacramento City College. She had piercing eyes.

Three Star Students, Three 11 by 15 inch Watercolor Portraits

These are three star art students that attended my spring semester studio class at Sacramento City College. Which watercolor rendering of them one might be your favorite?? One, of these photos may become one of my multiple references for a five day watercolor portrait workshop I'm conducting for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society (San Jose, California) this August 12 through 16. I'm really looking forward to this one as well as being very excited to have been signed up to teach the same workshop next August, 2014 in Bend, Oregon for Art in the Mountains (Aug. 11-15), and a three day watercolor portrait workshop next March (dates to soon be determined), 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah for Colleen Reynolds (CRB Endeavors). Over the past year or two and through this blog, my Facebook page, a local PBS arts interview program, my recent workshops in northern California, Nevada, and Washington, and my "Portraiture In Payne's Gray" DVD, I am building a reputation as a go-to watercolor portrait instructor and am expanding this part of my profession. I'm planning to teach more out-of-state watercolor portrait workshops in 20014 and beyond. If any you who are reading this have any suggestions of an arts organization that would like to explore the idea of scheduling a three to five day portraiture workshop, please contact me via this blog or call my studio (Studio L) at 916-737-2311

Something fishy in watercolor no less.

What better thing to paint in watercolor than under sea critters. We did just that at one of my workshops.

"Colors of the World", 2013 International Watercolor Society show

I posted my watercolor "Hmong Girl" on this blog last year. I entered it into the 2nd International Watercolor Society

show held in Turkey, and got in. I.W.S. was a wee bit late getting the 240 page copy in the mail, but I finally got my hands on it today. I'm most happy to be in this international show with the likes of such renowned watercolor artists as John Yardley, Nicolas Simmons, Ong Kim Seng, Joseph Zbukvic, and Bottet Nicole.

Koi Joy

Last Sunday I had eleven acrylic painting students at my "Koi Joy" workshop here in Sacramento, Calif. The temp outside was 104 degrees but inside, we were all cool painting two lovely and graceful koi swimming about their pond. I showed my students how to first block in the two koi in white for the one on the left and orange for the one on the right. We blocked them in over a white canvas that we pre-painted in a phthalo blue hue. On top of both koi, we spent several hours carefully layering in the various hues and tones over each fish followed by some water reflections laid down with various sizes of flat brushes ranging from two down to one half inches across. Notice how I brock away some of the colors on the two koi to mimic actual color refraction that you would see in real nature. The man in black is yours truly. The two workshop students in the foreground are just starting to put details onto their blocked in koi. By the way, the first photo was our reference photo.