Krista with Pearls and Curls

22" x 30", watercolour, 2006

I wrote a bit about lighting in the previous post and that made me think of this painting and the one I'll post tomorrow. I like interesting lighting and I try to light my models to get the best definition of their form as possible...or whatever suits the mood I want to evoke. I also like strong shadows and high contrast (maybe because I don't see it a lot in most watercolour painting).

This painting is big. And the bigger the painting, the better the opportunity for me to play around inside the form with neat little painterly texturing and layering and general fun watercolourosity. It'd be easier to understand what I mean if you could see the actual painting as opposed to this postage stamp of an image.

I used a touch of plum in her hair to complement the green of her eyes. Incidentally, we now refer to this painting as "Green Eyes" in reference to a title suggested by someone I once knew.
I used black acrylic for the couch to get that deep, flat black.

Tomorrow's post is a very similar pose but with very different lighting.

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