A couple of years ago, I took a photo of a little girl playing down at the Waterfront Park in Louisville. I fell in love with the expression on her face and thought she was adorable. Since I have been painting children portraits, I thought I would give her a shot. Before starting, I did a thumbnail sketch, a value study and a color study. I use a laptop computer sitting next to my easel to paint from, since I feel the monitor (and eliminating the printing process) gives more accurate colors and values, plus I can enlarge or zoom into an area that I need to see more clearly. In her hair, I used Raw Umber, Perm Rose, Ultramarine Blue, and Permanent Brown. Skin tones were made with the same colors I use for all skin types and that is Raw Sienna, Ultramarine Blue and Quinacridrone Rose with Quinacridrone Coral. In areas, I used Cobalt Violet, Perinone Orange and Opera for lighting enhancements. The completed painting is on Arches 300lb. cold pressed watercolor paper; I used Daniel Smith and Holbein paints.

Image Size 18×14″    For purchase information, please contact me.

These paintings were demonstrations that I gave this week in my watercolor class. Gold metallic gesso was painted on hot pressed watercolor paper to create a smooth surface. Once dried it would allow lifting of subsequent layers of paint. (Credit Carla O’Connor for this idea-she talks about it in her video, “Figure Design in Gouache”.) In this painting I used straight watercolor, applied more thickly than normal watercolor painting, leaving areas of the gold showing through. The upper background was painted green, in a solid fashion, then lifted with a tissue to create a mottled look. The calligraphic marks on the right were added last.

In this photo, the painting on the left is also on a gold gesso watercolor paper surface, but was used as a plate to create the prints in the center and on the right. The original painting was just a quick, abstract paint design which was allowed to dry thoroughly. Then plain watercolor paper was soaked in water. With the middle painting, the paper was allowed to dry to a moist satin sheen stage before placing the plate on it. The painting on the right was more wet, but there was less paint on the plate so it still resulted in a subtle design, but a little fuzzier. I added a few accents of color to enhance the final paintings.

This was a lot of fun and the students seemed to enjoy it. They created some very interesting paintings with lots of mood and texture that would have been difficult to achieve any other way.

This is Jake, the older brother of Grant. This painting was also completed from a Derby Day photo. Again, I tried to keep the painting loose, with subtle shades of coloring.  Just as in Grant’s painting, I used both greens and purple (green gold, permanent green 1, and dioxazine violet with raw umber and raw sienna as the main color) for shading in the hair with cobalt violet light and cobalt blue for shadows in the face. Because of their light skin tones and hair coloring, these colors had to be very weak, very very light glazes or it would be too harsh.

Image Size: 15×11″   For ordering commissions, check out my “Commissioning a Painting” page.

On June 1, 2010, our Kentucky Watercolor Society plein air group met and painted on the grounds of Liberty Hall and the Orlando Brown House in Frankfort, KY. This is the painting I produced that morning and it and paintings by several other artists will be matted, framed and on display in the Orlando Brown House June 19th through July 23rd. For those not familiar, the Orlando Brown House is noted for being a gallery for Paul Sawyer’s watercolors.
Image Size: 15×11″     (Neutral double mat w/ gold finished wood frame)    Price:$300       Purchase: Please email me or contact Liberty Hall.

I happened to take this photo of Grant at his Grandparent’s Derby Party. He was contentedly playing while sitting on his father’s lap. I blocked out the surroundings and increased the lighting on his face. I purposely kept the painting loose while attempting to capture the sweetness of his face. When painting children, skin tones need to remain translucent with subtle variations of color. Because of this, I used a totally transparent palette, with no opaque paints. His eyes were painted with multiple layers of color, again in a loose fashion to give them a watery quality.

This painting is currently on display at the Middletown Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library and will be there until Sept 7th, 2010.

Image Size: 15×11″ Purchase: NFS ~ Please contact me for questions regarding commissioned portraits.

I participated in the Louisville Visual Arts Association’s Paint Out! 2010 on May 23rd. This is the painting I completed that day, starting out at 5th and Jefferson at 7a.m. and turning in my painting at 2:30p.m. that afternoon. What a day! It was a good thing I started early because it was a scorching day reaching 90 degrees. We had over 100 regional artists participating. I was fortunate to be among fifteen that received awards and the only watercolorist. I received a wonderful Winsor and Newton paint box as my award and have enjoyed using it already.

The fifteen award-winning paintings will be on display July 5th through September 27th at the Pegasus Gallery in the Louisville International Airport and many will be for sale. If you’re passing through the airport, stop in and see these beautiful paintings!
Image Size: 18×14″ Double matted w/ black wood frame. Price: $400.00

This guy is both literally and figuratively up against a wall, playing his fiddle for anyone that would walk by and donate to his cause.  Since the economy went south, we have had many more individuals that have depended upon the streets to survive. Here in Louisville, we have several resources for the homeless, but probably the most well known is Wayside Christian Mission.   A great organization if you would like to read about them or perhaps donate to their cause.

Image Size: 22×30″