First Portrait Attempt

Art class last night was very interesting. Our tutor, who has got to be one of the best I’ve ever come across, gave us a step by step instruction on how to paint a portrait. I have always avoided portrait painting because trying to match the exact skin tones on a face have always scared me, so I’ve always avoided it. I actually really enjoyed the lesson though. She began with explaining how using yellow ochre and alizarin crimson will give you the basis of a pale skin coverage and then to carry on mixing in colours to create tones. I noticed that the skin tones of my study had green in them for under the eyes (It’s amazing what you can see when you really look!) and burnt sienna for the top of the nose and forehead. 

My result is fine for a first portrait. I had an hour and a half to complete it, so I felt I’d done very well in the time limit. There are shadows missing around the nose and neck, and the lip edges and eyes need more work.

Great night though and I learnt a vast amount.

Comments and criticism appreciated. x

Oh, and my tutor said that painting portraits in watercolour are quite difficult because you can easily get hard lines and it can be hard to blend. I’ll try acrylics next time.