Young boy watercolor portrait COMMISSION

Here is my most recently commissioned portrait. I included a closeup of his face to show more detail. I'm very happy with the final product. 

Self-portrait in watercolor -- Student work

Here are some watercolor paintings of another student of mine. It was interesting to see how much the portrait changed simply by altering the color of the background. Well done!

Oct. 3 Oil Painting lesson step by step

I used cadmium red medium, naples yellow, white, and burnt sienna to paint in the flowers. I mixed equal amounts of Liquin and white; you need a lot of white for this as you will be applying a lot of paint. 

I redrew my flowers, or rather, I drew in the negative spaces between the flowers, with charcoal. (You could also use a soft conte crayon for this.)

I then applied paint thinner to this so as to wash it around a bit and increase the texture in the negative spaces. 

Then I painted various shades of peach in for the flowers. You can apply the paint any way you like. I worked with a palette knife, but quickly graduated to my fingers. I used very light pressure so the paint stayed thick. I lightly stamped a little of the negative space with my finger to make subtle areas of texture. If you enlarge the picture, you should be able to see it. 

Next time I should start photographing the palette. The mixture ranged from very light peach to a little more intense where I mixed in more cadmium red and burnt sienna. This made a beautiful shaded area. 

Next lesson (October 10) you will need something to scrape with. I suggest one of those plastic tools. They carry them at Hobby Lobby, but our store is out.

If you have questions, feel free to email me at annwinn4234@charter.net.

Watermelon Girl, Current Watercolor Portrait Painting Assignment

This cute little girl enjoying her slice of watermelon is our current watercolor portrait painting assignment, which we began on September 14. Students can choose to paint on either 1/4 or 1/6 sheet of our usual watercolor paper. It's going to look great!

Next Oil Painting Project: Geisha painting

Here is our next oil project, which begins September 19. Everyone is excited about painting this Geisha, which is from a poster I found at Hobby Lobby. Working on an 18 X 24 canvas, there will be a lot of texture in the background, and an aged patina over the entire painting. 

Painting Roses with Backlighting assignment

Here is Ken with his roses. There is supposed to be a windowsill in this, but I don't know if he will include it in his painting or not. We'll paint the roses with the same high-contrast look we see in Ken's painting. The light shining on the roses from behind (backlighting) creates quite an impact--the roses really pop! I plan to use this assignment with both my oil and watercolor painting classes.

Oil Painting Class -- Student work

I am so excited about what the students in my class are working on. In the first photo, Betty Nelson is painting strawberries and an amazing gauzy tablecloth on a black canvas. 
Photo #2 shows A'Ree Hunt carefully shading her flowers. Looking good, A'Ree! And in the last photo, Francis compares her reference photograph with her own painting. Francis, who is homeschooled, is only 12 years old!