Watercolor Portrait with Colored Pencil – Paeonia

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Small Watercolor Portrait

Here’s a little watercolor portrait with colored pencil from a photo my cousin was kind enough to let me sketch from (Paeonia 5×5 Watercolor Portrait with Colored Pencil (available here). Getting inspired by people’s faces is so easy with all the beautiful imagery on social media. It’s even better when the inspiration comes from someone in your family, so you can ask permission, and leap into a painting from their reference photo. (Thanks, Gabby!)

Artsy Resources for You

Here are a few share-worthy things I stumbled upon this weekend.

• Artist Kerry Brooks teaches an online course on skin tone using colored pencils. I think skin tone can be one of the most challenging elements in a portrait, and this course goes over layering, paper choices and blending to get luminous skin tones. Kerri also instructs tips for facial structure, form and textures in portraiture.

• Thaneeya McArdle posted a step-by-step post with lots of photos to make a portrait of a dog with watercolor and colored pencil. Her instructions are clear, and I think a total beginner could follow her tutorial and create a fun pet portrait using her reference photo to mimic her details, or a similar photo of your own pet.

• My Modern Met recently posted an article about the colored pencil brands out there – especially for use with adult coloring books and professional artists. If you’re new to colored pencils and you’d like to know more about the particulars of various types and brands, this article might be helpful.

• If you’re new to the idea of using colored pencil on top of watercolor, this tutorial video on my channel will guide you through how to save a failed watercolor with colored pencil.

• Do you know the paintings of UK artist Richard Pikesley? Take a look at his atmospheric watercolor landscape below, and then visit his instagram feed (link in the caption) to boost your inspiration-mojo.

Balancing the Stillness of Art-Making

Over the weekend, my family participated in the 10th Annual 5K/10K Mardi Gras Run in Santa Clarita, California. The proceeds for the event support a local student track and field club aimed at getting kids to exercise. There were plenty of kids and dogs and wild costumes in the race, and lots of folks walked the course instead of running. We all had a great time.

Signing up for a race like this – especially with family, or friends – can be just the thing to get you outside and exercising to prepare for an upcoming date on your calendar. Do you have events like this on your schedule as motivation to move?

Generous Friends

Thanks for your warm and kind welcome back messages, and your compliments on my new website. I really appreciate the stockpile of encouragement and all the well-wishes on my finish-up list.

The next big To-Do finishing the video course on Monotype printmaking. I’m excited to get back to work. What about you? What’s on your list for Spring art-related happenings?

Thanks for stopping in today, and I’ll see you in the next post!

Belinda

P.S. I just finished listening to this audiobook (narrated by Tom Hanks!). (I loooove the cover art.) Have you read it? What did you think?

Art Quote

In my study of Dolly Parton, I learned that Dolly Parton doesn’t read music. And then I did a bit of research, and I learned that Paul McCartney can’t read music! Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, none of them read music! These musicians didn’t have a thorough education in music, they lacked arguably crucial skills – but that didn’t stop them. They loved music, they wanted to play, create, and perform, and they figured out how to do that.

Gretchen Rubin

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