Portraits in direct watercolour - Silvie again

Another AIM-Thursday late afternoon with Silvie. As you might know, if you are a frequent reader of my blog, we meet thursdays after work to have a leisure time "everything-is-possible-thursday" as often as we can. This is the time to chat and draw and exchange the news. This time again, while we had our coffee I portraited Silvie. This is so much fun for me that I thought I'd share how I do portraits in direct watercolour.

Wieder ein Alles-ist-Möglich Donnerstag Spätnachmittag mit Silvie. Wie ihr als häufige Leser meines Blogs sicher wisst treffen wir uns so oft wir können nach der Arbeit und nutzen die Zeit, um die Neuigkeiten auszutauschen und zu malen. Dieses Mal habe ich Silvie wieder portraitiert, während wir einen Kaffee zusammen getrunken haben. Das macht einen riesen Spass und ich dachte ich erzähl euch mal, wie ich das mache:

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For portraits in direct watercolour I use a brush 12 with a good point. 

First I look for the bigger masses and usually I begin with a light skin colour with the forehead, then continue with the shapes of nose and mouth. 

The upper part of the mouth is almost always darker than the lower part. 

I try to paint around the eyeshape and let the lightest parts of eyes, cheeks and nose white (the paper white is our lightest colour in watercolour). I always use light colour with a lot of water in the beginning (yes, it is called WATERcolour - so it is necessary to use a lot of it;0). Like that you can still make changes with dryer, stronger colours later. After the rough forms and some drying time I continue with details such as eyebrows, hair, eyes...

The best in direct watercolour is when the colours float together to get some smooth transitions. A good watercolour paper is essential. The advantage of direct watercolour is that you are so much faster and you capture that very expression in that moment of the face in front of you.

Don't be unhappy if there is not the likeness you desired, if there is a certain likeness it is already a success. It is the same thing like if you take photos - not every photo can be THE greatest shot. The same is with portraits. Don't get demotivated. Try again and again... 

BTW: My little square book is full as you can see. Need a new one!