Portraits in Watercolour 15th February

In discussing the differences between painting young and old faces, Caroline began with a very helpful hint: use wet in wet for young smooth faces, wash over first and drop in the colour, giving the bloom on the cheeks.

The model this week was a Cuban woman of some years, accompanied by her cigar. Starting by penciling in the features, beginning at the nose, Caroline then outlined the mouth and lastly the eyes.

To paint this very colourful subject, the following palette was used:

Firstly she used a weak yellow wash generally.

Yellow Ochre was the base colour, mixed with red & green.

For the brown, Caroline always mixes her own with red and green.

For the wrinkles she mixed Cadmium Deep Red with Ultramarine and Yellow Ochre was made and orange for the eye sockets.

For the olive green of the cheek patch and background, Hookers Green, Claret or Cherry red were used and a purple used for the lips.

We all watched with awe as the aged face emerged under Caroline’s deft brushwork. The following pictures give an idea of the gradual building of the portrait.