Red Umbrella W.I.P.

[Bobar57]

This few photos show my first humble attempt to watercolor,and figure in particular.I'm not quite pleased with the results so far,but as I was advised by a few members,I should finish it anyway and store it for future reference and comparison.
For starter I will dark the hair more.My ill look at it is mainly that the facial features don't match quite the ones of the model.Also,by mistake I messed up in her neck that should be a bit thicker,big bobo...
For working tight is not bad in my eyes,but the thing is that I don't want to work "within the lines".I love the style of Charles Reid very much and without copying it,I want to develop my own one more expressionist,more loose and full of color.That is something I foresee struggling with:the use of more colors.This WIP is way too much "monochromatic" if the word applies or you understand me.For every color used or mixed,the variations are in tonality only,not a single color had been used to create cool or warm areas,to dark or light any space.Well lets see how it will look when finished....
The fist image is the reference printed copy of the photo,the rest the progress so far.Suggestions,opinions,critique and advice is more than welcome.

Bob

[Marcio C]

Bob, you are just driving yourself too hard. This is fine, relax and finish the work and have fun, don't worry so much about how you want it to look, that will come with time. Is it a bit monochromatic? Sure, but that's one of the most important exercises that every instructor recommends, to handle values in one color well before adding more. So just go ahead, you can add more color later, you can lift color, you can do whatever you want, but don't judge it too much until you've done some background at least...

[janinco]

Bob, that's a tough reference to start with! I have two portraits sitting in my studio that have no faces. I scrubbed them out about 4 times and decided I'd wait till I had done a lot more studies before I tried to finish.

You did an excellent job on the sketch. The arms and feet look really good and they are tough, too. Have you read "Your Artist's Brain"? It helped me understand why I can do a decent job on everything else but then I get to the face and blow it :-) Here's one of my favorite quotes by Monet. He was talking about plein air painting, but the concept applies to portraits, too:

"When you go out to paint, try to forget what objects you have before you, a tree, a house, a field or whatever. Merely think here is a little square of blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to you, the exact color and shape, until it gives you own naïve impression of the scene before you."

I love Charles Reid's portrait style, too. But sometimes you have to learn the more technical, realistic style first and then loosen up as you're more comfortable with the fundamentals. Susan Tustain has an incredible DVD on portraits that you might like. I don't want to paint consistently in such a tight realistic style, but it's a very good way to learn. She uses hot press paper which I think is more forgiving for portraits.

It's important not to get bogged down. I try to finish a piece the best that I can, file it, and then move on to the next thing. If we lose the initial passion for the subject we will get painter's block and procrastinate doing the next painting!

Jan

[juneto]

Lookin 'Good !!!
June

[tommyjav]

Looking good so far, Bob!
Tommy

[pjartwc]

Hi Bob, You have a great start! Your drawing is right on - an important first step for painting a person. Your skin tones are good. I love that you are not afraid to use bright color in the umbrella. Now comes the hard part (at least it is for me in any painting) I'm anxious to see how you handle the background so that it does not overtake the excellent figure you've already painted.

[Captain G]

Looks good, keep going!

[DKB444]

Bob, this is really looking great! The skintones are very nice also.

[Bobar57]

Thank you everyone for your encouraging words.Jan,that's one that have me scratching my head yet,the background,lets see what I can come out with.

Bob

[rickyhpierre]

Looks good to me! let us see how it comes along

Ricky

[MtLookout]

Bob,

I believe that this is the first piece that I've seen you post on WC. It's looking great. The accurate sketch set you up for a very nice piece. As far as the background, you might consider just doing a light abstract of the gray shapes from the road to suggest the horizontal lines of roadwork. Keep up the good work.

Tom

[olliewood0702]

Bob, I totally agree with all that's been said; keep going! Your feet and arms are WONDERFUL! Baby steps....if you need to take a break from it and set it somewhere and look at it often. Your painting so far is GREAT!

[artist144]

So far things look good. Don't give up.

[CharM]

Originally Posted by MtLookout

Bob,

I believe that this is the first piece that I've seen you post on WC. It's looking great. The accurate sketch set you up for a very nice piece. As far as the background, you might consider just doing a light abstract of the gray shapes from the road to suggest the horizontal lines of roadwork. Keep up the good work.

Tom

Your painting is sure looking terrific, Bob... I agree with Tom's suggestion for a very minimal background... you might even think about a vignette...

[Bobar57]

Well,here is the final result.Jan,you predicted it.....the background was challenging and resulted in a mess,lets set the culpability on the poor quality Strahmore 400 paper.I know it was me all along.I'm not satisfied,neither impressed but is my first work and probably I'll need to read some books,take some lessons,I don't know.

Bob