Loose Watercolor Portraits

One of the great things about the St Michaels Art League is it's class offerings. We try to have nationally recognized artists come to our area in the spring and the fall each year. This past fall we invited Janet Rogers to teach a watercolor class. Several of my friends had taken a class from her and were very enthusiastic about her style.

Janet paints loosely and quickly. Her portraits are beautiful. It's fun to try new things . . .maybe I could learn to do that. I could hardly wait!

There were several wonderful demonstrations and lots of time to try out her techniques. As instructed, we mixed up puddles of paint and got going. We were encouraged to not worry about making our paintings exact images of the person. Most of us found that it was a lot easier to do a practice painting of someone we didn't know. It really didn't matter if our painting was the image we were copying - as long as it looked somewhat human!

Although I love taking classes, I find that I do better work by myself at home. When the class was over I spent time with a photo of one of my grandchildren (who is now 13)  - in the photo, she was probably 2. I have always loved this picture. . .

Now, if you read what I wrote a couple of paragraphs ago, you know that what I was told was that it is easier to paint someone you don't know . . .I had to try this anyway.

Fast and loose - gently define and give the impression of features and shadows.

Actually, I think it turned out pretty well . . .and it was fun!