Sketchbook Sunday: Portrait of my Daughters

Hi friends! I signed up for a class a couple of weeks ago to improve my skills concerning painting people in watercolor. I tend to paint a lot of still lifes and the occasional landscape but I rarely put a person in there even though it can add so much to a painting. So for the next few weeks on Sketchbook Sunday you will see time lapses videos of my at home assignments from the class. I worked on this painting off and on over the course of a week.

It felt good to push myself and try something new. I think no matter where you are on your art journey it is important to remain in an atmosphere of growth so you don’t get burned out (especially if you do it for a living.) I hope you enjoy my time-lapse and learn a  bit from my struggles:)

I used my M Graham palette for this as the painting is large (15″x22″) and I needed to have room to mix large washes. Affiliate links to Consumer Crafts, Hallmark Scrapbook and Amazon are used. Consumer crafts recently added many top artist paint brands and the prices are really great. In addition to M Graham, they carry Daniel Smith, Holbein, Winsor & Newton, Grumbacher, Van Gogh and more. It is worth a look if you need to replace some colors or stock up.

Colors I used:

• Ultramarine blue (this is DaVinci)
• Quin Red
• Yellow Ochre 
• Burnt Sienna
  (the above colors I used for my skin tone mixes as you can get a really nice range of neutrals from it, I recommend trying that color palette if you are looking to mix skin tones.)
• Sap Green
• Van Dyke Brown  (this is Qor) If you don’t have Van Dyke brown you can use sepia or burnt umber, it is a cool deep brown color.
• Gamboge (I said Cad yellow deep which you can use but I double checked and I used Gamboge, really any warm yellow is fine)
• My Palette is a 12″x16″ Jones Palette

Other Supplies:

• I used a half sheet of Langton Prestige 100% watercolor paper (painting size 15″x22″) which is very similar in surface and equal in quality to Arches Cold Press 
• I used a variety of brushes but mainly my Mimik synthetic squirrel value set, and I used a wedge brush for the leaves. The cute brushes with mermaid tails are by Jane Davenport
• Prima Julie Nutting Skin Tone Watercolor Pencils are unfortunately discontinued and out of stock everywhere:( however, the colors are duplicated in the following sets: Earth Tones and Soft Neutrals. The sets can be found discounted at Hallmark Scrapbook for around $10 each. And they are also available on Amazon: Earth Tones and Soft Neutrals
  *BTW I am really disappointed that Prima discontinued this set as it is so useful!
• Derwent Coloursoft wax based pencils

I hope you enjoyed the process, I must say after working on this for a week it was satisfying to see it come together so quickly in time-lapse LOL! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!