Thinking in Chinese and Heading for Salt Lake City!

I find that watercoloring a portrait in a traditional, straight ahead manner BORING. I paint in what I call my "California-Vibe" style. In other words,  a portrait that is loaded with amped up Xpression . . .  inventive paint application, evocative design elements, dramatic composition, and no-holds-barred color. This post shows the progressive stages in one of my latest creations. The majority of these CA-Vibe pieces work, but every once in a while, they can derail. What do you think of this one, kind reader????? By the way, I threw in that Salt Lake City at sunset photo, because I fly there tomorrow to conduct my first out-of-state "California-Vibe" portraiture workshop for Studio 21. I will be conduction a second one back in Sacramento this May, and my third in August at Bend, Oregon. I'm doing my best to spread the vibes!!

The one that didn't get away!

I charged hard on this one . . . a bonsai attack! By the time I got to the stage in the fourth photo here, I felt my watercolor portrait had turned into a steaming pile of paint poop! Pooh!! Undaunted, I continued my attack and turned the proverbial sow's ear into a silk purse!!! Can you spot the change ups?

Male subject in charcoal, water color, and acrylic

First I drew this male subject (an ex-student of mine and quite a good pen and ink man) in SOFT charcoal. Next, I loosely shaded with the same soft charcoal. Then I deepened some of the darkest facial features and outside contour lines with a semi-soft charcoal pencil. After that procedure, I pulled out a Kleenex and wiped over the entire drawing. You can see how it spread a light gray film of charcoal over the entire page. I went back in with the semi-soft charcoal pencil again to re-establish my dark and middle values. Last, but certainly not least, I erased out highlights with a soft eraser pencil. This is a fabulous method for charcoal sketching! 

The other four paintings are watercolor and an acrylic study.

Mellow Yellow Selfie

This last selfie for awhile was painted on an 11 by 15 inch sheet of Fabriano Artistico, 140lb. cold press watercolor paper. It was a demo for an art club in the Sacramento area. Painting and talking time was one hour. I painted it a little bit in the style of an oil painter that I really admire - Robert Heindel. Check him out!

I'm back with more color and cheekiness!!

 An 11 by 15 inch watercolor self portrait on 140 lb. Artistico cold press watercolor paper. I call paintings like this my "California-Vibe" style of watercolor portraiture. I'm teaching California-Vibe portraiture in a workshop on March 27-29 at the Colleen Reynolds Studio in Salt Lake City, Utah (sold out), on May 24-26 for the Sacramento Fine Arts Center, Sacramento, CA, and on August 11-15 for Art in the Mountains in Bend, Oregon.

"My Cheekie Self"

What is it that is so engaging about painting one's self! I knocked this one of last night in about an hour. Watercolor self portrait from a reference photo on an 11 by 15 inch sheet of Arches 140lb. cold press rough, watercolor paper. Here is the sequence.

Two more self portraits - "The Thinker" and "Seeing It My Way"

Like my previous self portrait titled "Boston Bundled", these two were watercolored  on sheets of 140 lb. cold press paper and are 11 by 15 inches in size. If I get enough readers interested, I will post progressive shots from start to finish of these two selflies. Please let me know.