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AW-023


15" x 22", watercolour, 2002, private collection

Here's a perfect example of a lighting situation I couldn't capture with a point-and-shoot camera (either film or digital), but did so with my Minolta SLR film camera. My studio is far from sophisticated, but I can usually get the look I'm going for with my limited setup --provided I have a good camera to capture that look.

It's also a really good example of how I like to paint my watercolours. I like strong contrast so I have really dark areas in the hair and glasses and nice light areas in her face, neck, and shoulder, the lightest being bare, unpainted paper. I do this to show watercolour's versatility and range; it can be very delicate (as in the glazed areas of her forehead, for example) as well as very bold (again the dark areas). This is something I'll be covering in my upcoming watercolour workshop in April (more on that soon).

The model is once again Ashley...and I think there are still over a dozen paintings of her I have yet to blog about. The background is a slight abstraction of the actual background in my previous studio (bookshelf, wall, supporting beam, painting frame).

I really like the glasses in this one.



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