Watercolor Self Portrait

 9x12

My dad recently got my sister some watercolor paints and watercolor pencils.
Alix generously shared with me and we started experimenting immediately.

 

 After a few days of trying them out, Alix has been drawn to the paints, while I'm drawn to the
pencils. The method is very fun and easy: You draw what you want with the
pencils then carefully draw over it with a wet paintbrush.

 

Last Friday night, after copious amounts of new watercolor drawings and failures, I
decided to try a self portrait. I usually draw from photos, but I wanted to try something
different. To make it look vintage, I tried a sepia affect with 2 different shades of
brown and a black. I would have smiled, but I wasn't sure how long it would take, and
people in old portraits are usually not smiling, anyways.

Since then I have done a few more watercolor portraits with live sittings, two of my
sisters, and another of one of my friends. Since there is the jar of pencils,

the cup of water, paintbrushes, and paper towels needed, in all of the sittings

I've done we have sat on the floor, the subject usually leaning against the wall

 or a chair.

 

Thankfully they only take 30 minutes to an hour, so the subjects don't have to sit too long,
but even still they needed a break about halfway through, which was nice for me
so I could re-sharpen the pencils, get a drink and stretch my legs a little.

 

I still prefer pencils, but watercolor is really fun and I am still experimenting with it.