My Lady's Presence ...

The Pout

I continue to practice sketching lady's faces.  Now, sketching is not my strong suit and the human form is a particularly difficult subject matter for a beginner to sketching. 

I've painted one portrait with Genesis Oils, which I named "The Pout".  My painting was based on a photo offered through Paint My Photo - Ning Group.  I adored this little girl's pout and the shared story behind the snapshot, taken by her grandma.   I laboured over every detail -- she was someone's little darling! -- and felt I'd done a passable job of the endeavour for my first portrait ... ever.

But ... back to pencil sketching portraits and so forth.  BAH!  I'm challenged.  :-(   I want little girl and lady faces for my art journals ... and I'm determined I shall learn them!   So I press on.

My Lady's Presence

Initially "My Lady's Presence" was sketched in charcoal and then I applied watercolour pencil.  When I was fully satisfied with the lay in of the colour, I then applied water.

One of the things I struggle with in flesh tones is that I don't have enough of the key colours in the watercolour pencils themselves.  After researching, it appears  that none of the key pencil manufacturers actually have a full sampling of flesh tones in their kits.  One has to piecemeal from the variety of brands to get them.  It appears Derwent had an Academy kit of fleshtones at one time, but my research did not offer a retail store with them.  :-(

What I will attempt next time, is a lay in of the base flesh tone in Prismacolor Premiere and then an application of the watercolour blending tones.  Perhaps that will give me what I need.  :-)